Attack on Paint Wars!
by ImObviouslyDoingHomework
Summary: (OC) Fyllie June and the cast of AoT are students at "Trost University" and members of their college's paintball team "the Scouts", hoping to beat their rival "The University of Utgard's Titans" in this season of Paintwars! It won't be any normal season though, for a few new members from the Titan's have something nefarious planned for this year's Scout's. (OC x Levi Ackerman)
1. Paintwars

_**Welcome to the first chapter of my first fanfic!**_

 **NOTICE** :

-the character **Fyllie June** belongs to me.

-(Fyllie pronunciation: "FILL-ee")

-the rest of the characters with identified names belong to the anime and manga series **Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin**.

-" _Trost Univeristy_ ", " _the Scouts_ ", " _The University of Utgard_ ", " _the Titans_ ", while of course are referenced from the series, are fanmade (by me) colleges and teams, and the idea belongs to me, and are not a part of the Attack on Titan's existing story.

-" **Paint Wars** ", while exists as the well known electronic music festivals, is the name of the College Paintball Sport Association in the fanfic.

-Thanks for reading!

* * *

 **Fyllie was curled up in her office chair in her college dorm room, hugging her knees to her chest, playing with her yellow-orange hair**. She sighed and looked solemnly out the window, sniffing a bit. She felt horrible. She had skipped class this morning, because she had only gotten back to her dorm at 5am, after being at the hospital all of the last night with her parents. Her mom and dad had gotten in a car crash, and they were badly injured, still unconscious.

The door opened and Fyllie jumped up, flipping her hair trying to look ever so slightly more presentable, and that she was doing something other than just sitting in her chair moping. She just looked messy, having not showered the night before, due to the crash. Fyllie turned her head down slightly, avoiding the judging gaze of her roommate.

"Ugh. Seriosusly? I have friends coming over soon, get yourself together or get out," the other girl demanded, rolling her eyes.

"On it..." Fyllie managed to say, as she sniffed and slipped on her neon green and orange high tops, grabbing her bag and then leaving the room. The words from the other girl made Fyllie's chocolate-brown eyes sting, and her cheeks and nose flushed red like she wanted to cry. Her roommate didn't know what had happened, and even if she did she probably would not have said anything differently.

Fyllie bit her lip and pulled her hair up in a ponytail, hoping the redness on her face would fade, even though when it did it would reveal her absurd amount of freckles, which was only ever so slightly less worse.

About an hour later, Fyllie had left the college campus by bus and arrived at the one place that she never seemed to falter. A Paintball park. Paint balling was something she had always loved and been great at, her favorite hobby. It was what she spent her money on, and where she went whenever she was bored. It was one thing she never lacked confidence in. Even better, because of her size and height, 5"2 (157 cm) people wouldn't think of her as someone being good at paintball, and she always got to prove them wrong. Fyllie didn't care about that today, though. She just came to get her mind off things.

"I'm here for the next game of capture the flag," she said quietly, then handed over her debit card to pay. The freckled girl then went into the room the guy at the desk pointed her towards, where her team of strangers was gearing up, introducing one another and discussing their strengths and weaknesses on the field. She silently geared up as well with a red vest and paintgun. After she did so, she looked down and got on her phone.

"Red Team, enter the field!" Someone said through the announcer a little while later. Fyllie's teammates started leaving through a hallway opposite of the entrance, and she felt someone tap her on the shoulder to get up and go.

"You know what to do, kiddo? Where our flag is? The game plan? Where their blue flag is? Divide and conquer? Watch each other's backs?" The person who tapped her asked, looking at her like she was going to be the most useless member, like some inadequate child.

The freckled girl didn't answer, infact she walked past him and pulled out her earbuds, plugging them into her phone and sticking the pieces into her ears, pushing past the crowd, and getting to the front of them, despite the looks she was receiving. She brushed them off and shook her head waiting for the signal. And when the game started, Fyllie unpaused her music on her earbuds string, and then rushed into the arena, feeling the muscles in her legs pop as she propelled herself forward with one beginning stride that made her teammates behind her freeze for a monent in shock and realization.

The arena was make of all wooden obstacles, little huts and shacks and walkways. There could be people hiding anywhere, but not this early into the game. Fyllie was fast, no one could have ventured this far out yet from the other side. She held her gun in her left hand, holding it behind her as she sprinted through the course, taking a quick turn up a wooden walkway, her eyes darting left and right scanning for people.

 _Someone on the right aiming at her_. Fyllie couldn't stop the smirk from spreading across her face as she grabbed onto a post on the walkway, using it to spin around off the dock. She twisted into a side flip, landing in a crouch to duck and roll, then shot the guy right in the face mask, inevitably blocking his vision for the majority rest of the game.

 _Hell yeah_.

 _Another one_. Fyllie dodged a paintball aimed right at her head, rolling to the side, shooting her attacker in the face mask, kipping up, only to jump into a backflip dodging another paintball. She began sprinting again, shooting people as she came across them, ducking, rolling and flipping through the fastest path towards where she knew the flag would be. She made sure her steps were quick and light, her music still blasting into her ears, honing her focus.

After another few minutes, Fyllie had counted 16 people she had most likely eliminated by shooting their hands in places she knew would make it impossible for them to use their gun, and covering their face masks in paint, (one is not able to remove their face mask during the game at any point in time for safety purposes), and a few people she had managed to effectively escape with some well placed "crotch-shots". And the end was finally in sight. Fyllie slowed down and dropped low, under a walkway behind a post, making sure not to be seen. There were 6 members about 25 yards away, (about 23 meters) stationed around a huge wooden structure that was topped off with their bright blue flag.

Fyllie could feel herself grin, and felt the rush of wonderful impulse course through her. She took a deep breath and rushed out from behind the post without a fear, shooting the first man she saw, using the walkway as cover. He shouted, yelling that he'd been shot, and someone was coming.

Fyllie came out from under the walk way, immediately taking fire from her opponents. She gracefully dodged the paintballs with her signature side flips and rolls, sometimes using her gun as a shield, as the men continued to shoot at her. The freckled girl managed to get two good shots at the men, paint now splattered on their face masks, and a good crotch-shot on another guy, who was now throwing up over the side of their tower. Three more left.

The freckled girl ducked a shot and rolled over to another walkway, grabbing onto the wood to swing herself up on top, fortunately being able to block a headshot just in time with her gun. The walk way she had gotten on didn't lead straight up to the top of the tower, for there was about an 8-foot gap in between the two platforms, and it was also about 6 feet taller.

 _Just go_ , Fyllie thought to herself, managing to take out just one more guy with a shot to his wrist causing him to drop his gun, and then a shot to his face mask. She took a few powerful sprinting steps towards the edge of the walk way and then leapt, reaching out to grab the edge of the wooden platform. Her fingertips just barely met the wood, and she felt her heart skip a beat when she got the feeling she might be falling, but she managed to get a grip, and swiftly pulled herself up, immediately having to roll out of the way of fire, front flipping and backwards rolling under her opponent's legs to kick him off his feet, taking his gun so he fell to the ground unarmed, then finally finishing off the last man with two paintballs right in his face mask.

Fyllie left out the smallest sigh of triumph, and dropping her gun, she wrapped her fingers around the cold pole of the other team's flag and smiled.

* * *

 **Paint Wars Tryouts, August 18th, 3pm, Trost University's Paint Wars Arena**

 **Students of Trost University, come represent your college and be part of the Scouts, one of the leading Paintball Teams in the nation!**

 **Compete in 20 grueling seasonal matches against other colleges, and help us beat our rival, the University of Utgard's Terrible Titans!**

This year we have **9** open spots, which will be lead by our one and only Captain Levi Ackerman!

We will provide tryout participants and new team members with the paintguns and the gear.

You will be required to have athletic footwear and clothes you wouldn't mind getting roughed up.

Practice and Match Schedule will be established at tryouts for those who make the team.

 **Notice: NO freshmen are allowed to tryout. Sophomores and up ONLY; Freshies, have a free year before committing to Paint W** **ars!**

 **LESSONS*** ARE available to take throughout the year if you have an interest in becoming part of the team next season, and are HIGHLY recommended!

Fill out the waiver below and bring them to tryouts! Waivers will also be available at tryouts.

We hope to see you there!

 ** _\- Coach Erwin Smith, Captain Levi Ackerman, and Your Future Teammates: Petra Ral, and Hanji Zoe_**

 _Make sure to check our website if you have any extra questions!_

* * *

 _August 18th... That was two days ago,_ Fyllie thought as she sighed sadly, feeling her heart drop as she read the poster in the hallway of one of her class's buildings. The freckled girl took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair in disappointment as she couldn't take her eyes off the poster. That was the only reason she had transferred to Trost University this year as a sophomore. To be part of the Scouts. To be part of Paint Wars. Of course, she wouldn't not go to the hospital when her parents had gotten into a car wreck, but it was at the most unfortunate time that they could've gotten injured. Fyllie was almost glad they were still unconscious so she didn't have to tell them she missed tryouts because of their wreck. She just sighed and after a good minute or two, finally managed to pull herself away from the poster.

Fyllie trudged back to her dorm room, dragging her feet all the way, hoping her roommate wasn't there. To her dismay, she was sitting on her bed when Fyllie entered the room, but instead of ignoring her or saying something mean, she said, "Hey, Fyllie. Our dorm director left you this." She handed Fyllie a piece of paper. Fyllie didn't think she had done anything wrong this early into the year, she had only arrived a week ago. She curiously read the note.

 _Fyllie, Trost University's Paint Wars Coach Erwin Smith would like to talk to you._

Fyllie read the email address on the note, which apparently was Coach Erwin's. _That's weird_ , she thought, setting the note down on her desk, opening her laptop. "Thanks," she said to her roommate, going to her email.

" _Hello, Mr. Smith, I heard you wanted to speak with me? -Fyllie June_ " Fyllie typed, double checking she had entered the correct email address, then hitting send. _I wonder what that's about._

Later that night, Fyllie checked her email again and noticed she received a reply from Erwin.

" _Hello, Fyllie June. Nice to meet you, and thank you for emailing me. I would like to meet with you to discuss the Paint Wars team with you sometime tomorrow. Would you mind coming to my classroom in building 13, room 57 tomorrow? I have class in the morning from 8-11. If you agree, offer a time that would work well for you tomorrow that you could stop by. If there isn't a time available tomorrow, perhaps the day after that. Thank you. -Erwin Smith_ "

The freckled girl felt a pang of anxiety in her stomach, like she was going to be in trouble for not showing up at tryouts. However, how would Erwin even know her name? Or that she existed? She had just come to Trost University this year, and how would she know that she even liked paintball? It was something she mentioned in her bio somewhere in her application for Trost, but she doubted a college professor and coach, even of the Paint Wars team would have seen it.

At the end of the night, Fyllie had arranged a time that she would meet with Coach Erwin Smith the next afternoon.

* * *

 _Well this will be interesting_ , Fyllie thought as she entered Building 13 and walked down the hallways until she came to Room 57. The door was wide open, and Fyllie peaked in, seeing a strong-looking, blonde-haired man sitting at his desk writing on some papers. Fyllie knew it was Erwin, she had seen his pictures on the university's website, and in pictures of the "Paint Wars News" and such. She lightly knocked on the doorframe before stepping inside the room.

"Hello? Coach Smith?" She said. Erwin looked up and nodded, smiling ever so slightly, getting up out of his chair, walking over to her. He was tall and built, with a posture and body language that demanded respect.

"Hello, Fyllie," he said, offering his hand to shake. Fyllie took his hand and smiled nervously. "Thank you for meeting with me today. Come, please, sit." He lead her over to his desk, where he had a chair set up for her. "Thank you for meeting with me today, I hope it hasn't caused you any trouble."

"Of course," Fyllie smiled, "it's cool."

"That's good to hear," he said as he sat in his seat and pulled out his phone, unlocking it and then turning it around to show her something. Fyllie saw that it was an image, an image of her, at the Paintball Park yesterday. She was surprised, and shifted nervously. Was he stocking her? No, it was a footage of a camera from inside the arena. Strange. "I bet you've been wondering what this is about, no? So tell me, this is you, right?" Erwin asked.

It was obvious it was Fyllie. Who else had bright yellow hair with random natural streaks of orange, and wore neon green and orange shoes? Plus the absurd amount of freckles on her face. She noticed that she had been wearing her "Trost University" hoodie that day as well. "Yeah, that's me, sir," Fyllie said, more curious than ever as to what he was going to say next.

Erwin smiled and swiped to a video on his camera roll and hit play. It was a video of her in action at the arena, kicking major ass. Fyllie couldn't help but feel a little prideful upon seeing it on a video. "Fyllie, I have to say, what remarkable skills you have. A friend of mine works at this Paintball Arena, and sent me this yesterday, telling me that someone who appeared to be wearing a Trost University sweatshirt with the registered name of "June", showed up at his arena and absolutely shocked everyone. I immediately searched the student database for the name, and evidently I found you to be a sophomore, who had classes starting the 14th, so I knew you must have arrived last week. I contacted your dorm director to see if you wanted to meet with me, and here we are."

 _So that's how I'm here_ , Fyllie thought, running through his story, which all made sense. She didn't really know how respond, and she bit her lip, feeling ashamed that she had to have missed tryouts for his team. "Yeah, that's me," Fyllie said a bit quieter.

"Now, my first question is, how did you get these skills? And then, why weren't you at tryouts two days ago? Did you not know we had a Paint Wars team? And if you did, why did you not show up?" Erwin asked, scooching ever so slightly forward on his seat.

"Well, I've been paintballing ever since I was a kid, and I did gymnastics and free-running/parkour rec classes at my local gym," Fyllie answered, looking ever so slightly down. "And I knew there was a Paint Wars team, and I planned on trying out, I really did. Believe me, I was always checking the university's website to make sure the tryout date didn't change, and it's the main reason why I transferred here to Trost as a sophomore, to be a part of the Scouts. But you see two nights ago before tryouts, my parents got into a car crash and I had to go home to see them in the hospital. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry that I skipped. I wanted to come, I really did, Mr. Smith." Fyllie sighed sadly, biting her lip.

Fyllie looked up at Erwin, afraid that he was going to be angry. To her relief, his eyebrows raised and his face morphed into shock and sympathy. "Oh Fyllie, that's horrible. I hope you parents are okay, right?"

"Yeah they're okay, sir. Thanks..." Fyllie said, looking down again.

"Don't fret, I don't blame you at all for not coming to tryouts, not even in the first place, but knowing now your reasons, I'm more than happy that they're okay, and you have nothing to worry about, Fyllie. Hopefully this lifts your spirits," Erwin said, pausing for a moment. "Fyllie, a position has opened up on the team, and I would like to know if you would be interested in filling it."

Fyllie's head shot up. A spot? On the team? How? And herself getting it? "Sir, are you serious?..." Fyllie asked, not even trying to hide the complete surprise on her freckled face. "But tryouts were just days ago, surely there's others."

"Ah, yes. It just so happened that before I was about to contact the 10th place person who just barely made the cut, telling them that they made the team, my friend sent me the video footage of you, and I knew that you would be much more of a valuable player, so I just had to contact you, of course nothing against them, or anyone else who didn't make the cut. And you see, the reason there is an open spot, is because Petra Ral, a junior, highly skilled, wonderful girl, great dedication and teamwork skills, quick-thinking and bright, had unfortunately suffered a severe injury the other day. She seems to have broken her leg, and she will be out for the rest of the season," Erwin said.

"Petra? That's horrible Mr. Smith, what happened?" Fyllie asked, surprised. She'd seen pictures of Petra as well all over, and she had never met her, but she knew she would like her. Petra seemed so nice and adorable, and word was she was a total badass at paintball, and she got injured? That would be horrible for her, and especially the team. It was just now sinking in to Fyllie that she could be part of the Scouts, but blocking the excitement was a fear that she would never be as good at Petra and people wouldn't like her. She already hadn't even showed up at tryouts.

"A horrible accident in the arena. Just yesterday morning she was practicing alone in the gym, which take note of, is not allowed for this specific purpose, and took a disastrous fall," Erwin replied, sighing. "But she will hopefully make a full recovery and make it back to the team next year. Anyways, on the lighter note; Fyllie, would you do the honors in taking Petra's place on the Scouts this year? We would love to have you, as long as you dedicate yourself and commit to the team."

"O-Of course, Mr. Smith, yes, I'll be a part of the team, thank you, thank you so much," Fyllie said, nodding her head, feeling the adrenaline, the joy, and the shock all at once. She also made a mental note to soon find Petra wherever she was and thank her, and give her a gift basket of some sorts.

Erwin smiled. "Excellent, Fyllie. Then you can address me now, as _Coach_ Erwin, or Smith. Whichever you would prefer."

"Yes, of course Coach Erwin," Fyllie said, deciding _Coach Erwin_ had a better ring to it than _Coach Smith_. Fyllie felt a grin spreading on her face as Erwin handed her the practice and match schedule. Then He stood up and started to lead her back to the doorway. She got up as well, and shook his hand when he offered it. "Thank you so much, Coach. I won't let you down."

"Of course, Fyllie. It was my pleasure. Glad to have you on the team, and thank you for meeting me today. I'm sure you'll do great things for the scouts this year," Erwin said. Fyllie nodded and was about to leave when Erwin said, "Oh, and one more thing. After tryouts, we had already assigned partners for the year. Petra Ral was Captain Levi Ackerman's partner, so naturally you will be Levi's partner."

A shiver suddenly went down Fyllie's spine. _Levi Ackerman's partner? Captain Levi's partner? Oh, kill me. This will not go well, not at all. Levi had been on the team for three years already, this year being his fourth, he started as a senior in high school, he was just that good. This was his third year being captain, and word was he was mean as absolute hell. He was a stone cold badass who didn't like anyone, except Petra Ral, who many of the college students and fans of Paint Wars shipped him with. Levi is going to hate me_ , Fyllie thought, as she smiled and waved at Erwin before leaving the room. _Levi is going to hate me._

* * *

 **Hey**! Thanks for reading the first Chapter of Attack on Paint Wars! Sorry that it is a little slow, this chapter is basically just meeting our main character Fyllie, and introducing the plot. The next chapters will be a tad longer, and I promise that in the next chapter and chapters to come, there will be much, much more of the character I'm sure the majority of you are reading this for: Levi Ackerman, the others of course. ( _Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Sasha, Connie, Christa, Ymir, Jean, Marco, Reiner, Annie, and Hanji_.)

I hope you stick around and see where this story goes! Thank you for your time!

-the character **Fyllie** belongs to me.

-the rest of the characters with identified names belong to the anime and manga series **Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin**.

-Thanks for reading!

* * *

Excerpt from the next chapter:

 _But just before the freckled girl started to fall, she suddenly felt a pair of strong, cold hands make contact with her lower torso, one on the left side of the small of her back, the other slightly behind her right hip, giving her goosebumps. The hands pushed her forwards and up with such a force it was like she had jumped with her own legs, propelling her through the air, high enough to reach the ledge of the platform, grab on and pull herself up. Once she had stood up, she quickly grabbed the flag and looked towards Coach Erwin, hoping he didn't notice how red her cheeks were. She couldn't help but look down to the ground as well, where Levi stood crossing his arms and looking away from her. As much as Fyllie hated to admit it, she needed Levi's help for a lot on this team. But Levi also needed her. Levi glanced up at Fyllie and shook his head like her performance wasn't good enough, like he had been doing. But before he looked away again, Fyllie could have sworn she saw the hint of a smile on his lips._

* * *

Next chapter coming soon!


	2. Rough Start

**_Welcome to the second chapter of my first fanfic!_**

 **NOTICE** :

-the character **Fyllie** (pronunciation: "FILL-ee") June belongs to me.

-the rest of the characters with identified names belong to the anime and manga series **Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin**. " _Trost Univeristy_ ", " _the Scouts_ ", " _The University of Utgard_ ", " _the Titans_ ", while of course are referenced from the series, are **fanmade** (by me) colleges and teams, and the idea belongs to me, and are **not** a part of the Attack on Titan's existing story.

-" **Paint Wars** ", while exists as the well known electronic music festivals, is the name of the College Paintball Sport Association in the fanfic.

- **Slight Language Warning** ; wouldn't be Attack on Titan without it.

- **Sorry for this taking so long to come out**. Honestly, I was worried about the length, and since I gave an excerpt for this chapter at the end of the previous chapter, I felt I couldn't shorten it accordingly. I'm sorry to say that I couldn't shorten it down to where it needed to be without it exceeding 10k words, and I really didn't want it to be that long. However, the excerpt you read would be in this chapter will _definitely_ be in the next, quite near the beginning.

- **Please leave a review**! Part of the reason it's so long is maybe because uneccesary detail? Tell me if some of you find it good writing with the detail, or if you would have a quick read. Thank you!

* * *

 **Fyllie jogged down the sidewalk of Trost University's campus, her bag hitting the back side of her leg as it slowly slid off her shoulder with every stride she took**. She ran across the street, waving at the drivers of cars who had stopped at her expense. The freckled girl wore her hair in a messy bun, which had taken her ages to do because she had tried to hide the random streaks of orange hair under her yellow hair, to look a little less weird. She had also spent the whole morning judging herself in the mirror because of her freckles, and after that she had been scolding herself for losing her last pair of contacts down the drain. Fyllie was going to have to wear her "Harry Potter" glasses to her first practice. She'd look like an idiot.

It was recommended that she arrive at least fifteen minutes early to each practice, as all her other teammates. At this rate, Fyllie would be about twenty minutes early, but she still feared she wouldn't make it. She pushed her glasses up on her nose a bit higher for the hundredth time, as they tended to slide down when she ran.

When she arrived at the arena, she slipped into the front door and hurried into the girls' locker room, where she found no one was there yet. Fyllie sighed in relief that she got to practice on time. She almost was happy enough to crack a smile when she found a locker with her name on it, but before the anxiety could leave her, someone entered the room.

It was a taller girl with short black hair and a look that was content and emotionless, but Fyllie could just feel the girl's sureness of herself. The girl walked over to her locker and opened it, put her bag inside and took off her jacket. Fyllie put her bag in her locker as well, and since she was already in her practice clothes, that was all she needed to do. She noticed the other girl was putting a simple combination lock on her locker door after arranging her things. Fyllie decided she'd get one as well.

"My name's Mikasa. Mikasa Ackerman," the girl said, breaking the silence. Fyllie had been too anxious to say anything first, so she was glad that Mikasa had spoken.

"Oh, my name's Fyllie June. Nice to meet you, Mikasa," Fyllie replied, smiling lightly, extending her hand to shake. Mikasa nodded and smiled lightly as well, taking Fyllie's hand with a strong grip, not enough to inflict pain, but in a hold that established domanince almost? However Mikasa didn't seem like someone who wanted to "collect" Fyllie or control her. Her strong handshake was probably natural. Then she realized that this girl Mikasa had said her last name was _Ackerman_. "Um, if you wouldn't mind me asking, are you in any way related to our captain Levi?" Fyllie asked nervously.

Mikasa shook her head. "No, we're not related. Just a coincidence. If you don't mind me asking," Mikasa said, "I don't remember seeing you at tryouts, and we filled all of the available places. How did you get on the team, Fyllie?"

Fyllie shifted nervously. There was nothing wrong with her story, but it was a little long and had the potential to sound like she was bragging, and that is not what she wanted. "Well, Petra Ral got injured yesterday, and the rest is a longish story," she replied, nervously laughing. "I'll uh, see you out there today, nice meeting you, Mikasa."

Fyllie quickly exited the locker room to the main gym, just in time, for another girl had entered and Fyllie was pretty sure that she didn't see her. Fyllie just didn't want to be cornered with questions.

The freckled girl came out the other side of the hallway and then froze in awe. If Mikasa hadn't made her so nervous, she might have been able to calm down when her eyes saw the gloriousness of the arena.

The place was massive. To her immediate left there was a rack of endless high-tech paintball guns and gear, and past that was the entrance to the boys' locker room. There was a corner of regular gym equipment, pull-up bars, treadmills, weights and such, and then the rest of the place was divided into multiple sections of paintball arenas.

One section had wooden walkways and had a forest like feel, like the place Fyllie had went to the other day, one was a stone maze, one was a place with artificial snow, and a few others. In the middle was an arena that looked like a giant playground, colorful and abstract with random structures and 3D shapes everywhere to hide behind.

Then of course there was a shooting range with moving targets of all sorts, and drinking fountains stationed everywhere. It took a lot of energy for Fyllie not to let her jaw drop to the ground as she looked around. She had been to so many paintball arenas before, of all different kinds of terrain and layouts, but to have so many in one place was incredible. In addition to that, the place was much bigger than she imagined. She had been past the outside of the college's arena and seen the size of the building, but she had always thought it was more than just an arena, assuming that the paintball part was maybe only half of the building, and the other half was occupied by offices or something.

Then, Fyllie heard two men's rising voices coming from her right. She took one last look at the arena and then let the curiosity best her, starting towards the right quietly, where she noticed Coach Erwin's office must be. Her guess was confirmed when she identified one of the voices as Erwin's. Fyllie stood leaning up against the wall listening. When Fyllie tuned into their conversation, her heart sank.

"I don't give a _damn_ how good she is. _I don't care_ about what she did at that arena the other day. She didn't show up at tryouts. She doesn't deserve to be on the team. I should be able to offer my opinions on what should be done on this team, and-"

"And _I_ have the right to decline them," Fyllie heard Erwin interrupt. "Levi. You have never acted like this towards a team member before. I don't know whether it's because you're worked up about Petra's injury, but it will not be tolerated. I have accepted your harsh treatment and cold ways with the team before, as it has done a good job of motivating them to be better, but this is hostile. You are the captain. You are the _leader_. Act like one. This was my decision. Fyllie is an amazingly talented girl that will do well on the Scouts."

There was a long pause and Fyllie looked down and sighed. So she was right. Levi did hate her, and was furious about the situation. She pushed up her glasses and shoved her hands in her hoodie pockets, shuffling her feet, starting back over towards the locker room entrances.

Four boys then emerged from their locker room, who seemed to be playfully arguing. There was a brown-haired boy, around the same height as Mikasa, who was being teased about something, and another boy with lighter brown hair on top of his head who was conducting the teasing. His face oddly reminded Fyllie of a horse. Then there was a friendly looking, lightly-freckled black haired boy who just smiled, listening to them in the background, and a shy looking boy who's hair was as yellow as Fyllie's, without the orange streaks of course. The shy looking boy walked while fiddling with his hands, looking ever so slightly worried, sticking close with the brown haired boy.

"Shut up, Jean. I do not talk like that," the brown haired boy said glaring after the horse-faced boy, presumably named Jean, after he had said something.

"My name's _Eren_ , and I'm _determined_ to take out _every single paintballer_ in the whole world! I'm going to _dance_ on their _graves_! I'm going to _bathe_ in their _blood_! I am _determined_! This is for the _sake of humanity_ and I will not fail the _human rac_ e and I will come out _victorious_! You shall all kneel before me! With my trusty paint gun, forged by the souls of a _thousand_ fallen brethren, I will wipe them all out! _Every last damn one_! I'm going to defeat the Titans if that's the last thing I do!" The boy Jean shouted, obviously mocking Eren, his voice highly animated and comical, moving his arms in dramatic ways. The freckled boy behind Jean chuckled, as Eren shot them both a look, his brow furrowing.

"I don't sound like that, you horse-faced son of a b-"

"Eren." Mikasa came out of the locker room, walking straight over to the brown haired boy, Eren. "Are you ready for the first day of practice?" She asked him.

Eren ever so slightly rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm so ready. I'm going to try my absolute hardest today, I'm gonna kick ass and be the best."

Fyllie kind of saw where the Jean boy was coming from. Eren possessed an amusing amount of intensity.

"Calm down, this isn't Pokémon, you don't have to be the very best," Jean said with a slight smirk.

Before Eren could say anything back, two others emerged from the locker rooms, a girl and a boy. The girl had thick brown hair and bangs, pulled up in a ponytail, and the boy had a buzz cut. They ran up to each other and the girl immediately started rambling on about something in such an enthusiastic voice, Fyllie's head perked up in curiosity. However, the girl was only talking about a new brand of potato chips she had acquired earlier that day, as the boy just smiled, walking casually with his hands behind his head.

"Sasha, I can't believe you even wanted to be on the Scouts, all you care about is food," Eren said. The girl named Sasha didn't seem to notice his comment, as she and Connie started to play fight of all things, throwing light and flirty punches at each other. Fyllie couldn't help but smile, the group proved mostly light-hearted and fun thus far, but she became nervous again, because they didn't notice her yet, or the absence of Petra. Let alone they all seemed to know each other, and she didn't. They had probably been freshmen together for a whole year, and she was only just arriving as a sophomore.

"Who are you?" Fyllie turned her attention away from the energetic girl and the laid back boy, and over to who had called her out. It was Jean. "Are you a part of the team? How could I have missed a cutie like you at tryouts~?" He asked, walking over to Fyllie with a cocky smile.

"Pervert Alert. Pervert Alert." Eren said in a monotone, computer-like voice.

"Hey, shut up!" Jean snapped back at Eren.

"Yeah, who are you, if you don't mind me asking?" the kind freckled boy asked from behind Jean. "My name's Marco," he smiled warmly.

"Excuse me Marco, me and the new girl were about to have a moment," Jean said.

"HA." Eren burst out in laughter, as well as Sasha and the other boy who had somehow been paying attention through their fake fight.

"Er, I'm Fyllie," Fyllie said with a nervous smile.

"Like as in Phil? The guy name?" Sasha asked.

"No," Fyllie said, "it's spelled it F-Y-L-L-I-E," she shyly explained.

"Awww that's so cute!" Sasha squealed, running over to Fyllie and squeezing her in a tight hug, then pulling back and running over to Connie as soon as Fyllie began to process that she was being hugged.

"What's cute? Surely nothing that's cuter than my Krista!" Said some tan girl who came out of the locker room, with her arm wrapped around a short, adorable blonde girl.

"Ugh. We all get it, Ymir, you and Krista are going to get married after college and then-"

"Not after college! After Paint Wars! After our first match! Possibly after this practice!" Ymir interrupted Sasha, hugging Krista super tight, who was shyly smiling, blushing a bit.

"Gah, Connie, _we_ should get married and be the cutest couple ever!" Sasha shouted at Connie who just shrugged.

"Sure," he said, shrugging with a casual smile. _This Connie kid is hella chill_ , Fyllie thought.

Marco just chuckled at everyone and said, "Well Fyllie, it's a pleasure to meet you! If you haven't figured out, that's Jean, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Sasha, Connie, Ymir and Krista. How did you get a part of the team? I don't remember seeing you at tryouts." Marco pointed out at everyone, and smiled so kindly at Fyllie, making her feel a bit more at ease, like he wouldn't judge her even if she was the worst paintballer on the team.

"Well, you see," Fyllie started, "Petra Ral-"

Fyllie then heard a sharp, cold voice behind her cut the air, interrupting her. It was deep and harsh and just sounded menacing. The voice that had been talking to Erwin. _Levi_.

Fyllie immediately stopped talking and looked down, instinctively backing up towards the others, who had also straightened their backs and silenced themselves, making sure that it was obvious the man knew he had their complete attention. Levi stood there now, his arms crossed with Erwin standing beside him, looking just pissed. Fyllie couldn't bear to look at him.

"Listen up, _brats_. Welcome to your first day of practice. During the time that you arrive to the time when practice actually starts, we expect you to be stretched, warmed up and ready to go, assuming you're here at least fifteen minutes early. Is that clear?" Levi said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

 _Did he just call us brats_? No one else seemed surprised by this, probably because at tryouts he'd called them that. Fyllie could just feel his steel grey eyes burn into her as he glared at her for the first time. He opened his mouth to say something, but Erwin took a step forwards.

"I'm glad to see that all of you have made it here safe today," Erwin started. Fyllie continued to look down, unlike everyone else, who's eyes drifted up to the Coach's iconic eyebrows . "I'm sure you've noticed that a certain someone is new today. Please acknowledge your new teammate, Fyllie June."

Fyllie weakly smiled, as she felt the other's eyes now on her. Unlike Levi's gaze, their looks were more neutral, indifferent, at most confused or curious. Their gazes didn't burn into her like Levi's, which she supposed was a good thing.

"Now, I am sorry to have to tell you that Petra Ral, the junior who helped out with tryouts the other day, has suffered a major injury as of yesterday, and is unable to be a part of the team this season, hence why Fyllie is here. Keep in mind Fyllie isn't "filling in", she is an official teammate of the Scouts, and you should treat her like so. She's very skilled like the rest of you, and although she was not at tryouts, it was for completely unselfish reasons, and I have come to the ultimate decision to give the position to her. Understood?" Erwin continued.

Everyone just nodded again, shrugging. Fyllie felt relief wash over her. She didn't sense any significant dislike towards her, and she owed it to Coach Erwin for saying why she was here so that she didn't have to explain it herself. However, Levi's eyes still burned into her, making her a bit sick.

But then, Fyllie realized that it _wasn't_ her fault that Petra was injured, and she was here because _Coach Erwin_ made a point to seek her out personally and ask her to join the team. Levi didn't have a right to hate her, even though she did feel bad that his partner who she assumed was one of his best friends couldn't be on the team. Also, Fyllie had missed tryouts because her parents were in a freak accident. Thoughts of confidence slowly started filling up her head, causing her to lift her chin ever so slightly more up.

"Also might I add, Petra was injured because she wanted to make sure she was ready for the new season with a little extra conditioning. There is nothing wrong with that, however Petra came to the arena in the morning _alone_. It is a rule here that you _are not_ allowed in the arena if you are without someone who is on the team, or me of course for this specific purpose, to avoid injury. Is that clear?"

"Hey, everyone! I'm here! I'm so sorry I'm late!" shouted a voice coming from the girl's locker room before anyone could nod to Erwin's question. A second later the girl who had yelled it jumped out from the locker room, still slipping her shoes on. She had a brown ponytail in, thick, brown square glasses, and skipped right over beside Levi and Erwin. "I was just losing track of time at the lab!" She exclaimed again, fixing the heel of her tennis shoe, grabbing onto Levi's shoulder for support, who just sighed and rolled his eyes.

Erwin sighed as well, as if the girl had done this many times before. " _Please_ don't make it a habit this year, Hanji," he said sternly.

"You got it!" Hanji chimed. "What'd I miss?"

" _Just shut up_ , four-eyes." Levi snapped.

Erwin paused for a moment before continuing. "Anyways, every practice there will be an agenda posted around the arena, in the locker rooms and on the white board next to the gun rack explaining how we're going to divide up our practice. If you would all take a look at the white board behind you." Erwin said. Fyllie and everyone else turned around to look at was written, and Fyllie had to slowly shift towards the outside of the crowd to be able to see.

* * *

 ** _Warm_ _Up - 15"_**

 ** _Conditioning - 30" with partner_**

 ** _Shooting Range - 30" with partner_**

 ** _Free for all - 30" without partner_**

 ** _Conditioning - 30" without partner_**

 ** _Get to Know Your Team -30"_**

 ** _Capture the Flag - 30" with partner_**

* * *

 _Jesus Christ_. Fyllie couldn't help but glance at Levi who still had his arms crosses tight across his chest, still looking determinedly pissed. Practice was three hours long. Two hours of it Fyllie and Levi would be forced to work together. _This is going to be wonderful_.

"Alright everyone, pair up and lead yourselves over to the gym area," Erwin said. Fyllie kind of sunk to the back of the crowd, avoiding Levi's gaze. She could tell Erwin was watching her and Levi out of the corner of his eye, interested as to how they'd work out.

Fyllie saw the pairs form slowly as they all walked towards the gym. Eren and Mikasa, Sasha and Connie, Jean and Marco, Ymir and Krista, and Armin and Hanji.

Once they were all in an open space in the gym area, Erwin said, "Now, todays workout we will be doing a series of floor work exercises. I want everyone to get a mat for their partner and them to share. Then find an open space and one person down on the mat." Fyllie finally made eye contact with Levi, who was still crossing his arms. She went and picked out a mat from the stack and walked over to Levi and placed it out on the floor.

Fyllie looked at Levi and crossed her arms as well, waiting for him to get down. They stared at each other for a minute or so in complete silence, waiting for the other one to do something. But Fyllie was stubborn, and no longer afraid or nervous. Sure she was nervous about not being good enough, but not because of Levi.

"Captain Levi, get on the mat." Erwin finally commanded. Levi rolled his eyes but not when Erwin could see, as he lowered himself down onto the mat, sitting with his crossed-armed elbows resting on his knees. "Now, sit ups for a 60 seconds. Count how many your partner does. Everyone's goal is at least 25," Erwin said.

"A whole minute? That's a lot," Fyllie heard Krista say nervously.

"I can handle a whole minute of sit ups no problem," Jean said proudly. "I'll bet I can get _60_ in, easily."

"Don't overestimate yourself Jean, I'm going to get _100_." Eren said, determined.

Fyllie noticed that everyone else was holding onto their partner's legs or feet, holding them down. Levi probably didn't need his feet to be held down, so she ended up just putting the tips of her toes on his so they weren't the odd pair out, but also so she only had to touch him the smallest amount possible, even though it was barely even contact as they were both wearing shoes.

"Your minute starts now," Erwin said, clicking the stop watch in his hand.

"Try to count correctly, _Freckles_." Levi said in a cold, dismissive tone as he started doing his sit ups. Fyllie had to admit his comment panged at her self consciousness, but she did her best to brush it off and started counting. And sweet Jesus, was Levi fast. Fyllie didn't show it but she was so impressed, and she couldn't help picturing what his abs looked like underneath his dark green T shirt. Levi never slowed down throughout the whole minute, and when Erwin said stop, Fyllie had counted _75 sit ups._

 _Hot damn_. Fyllie stepped off of his toes and glanced at him, who stood up with no problem, having not broken a sweat.

"Now remember your number and try to improve this year. If you got over 25, keep going. More than that? Keep going. 25 is the bare minimum. You should be able to do that amount by the end of the month." Erwin said, "now switch places with your partner."

Fyllie reluctantly sat down on the mat, putting her knees up, laying back ready to do sit ups. She knew she wouldn't be able to do as many as Levi, probably ever, but she was still going to put up an impressive number.

Levi stood above her, laying his one foot across her two feet, looking careless but actually applying a lot of pressure that was on the verge of painful. The second Erwin said stop, Levi removed his foot and said, "60", then turned away. He gave her this condescending, disappointed look, as if that in one minute wasn't good enough. But Fyllie didn't care because Levi was just being an ass. Her stomach hurt really bad, and she wiped some sweat off her forehead, pushing up her glasses.

The rest of conditioning pretty much went like that. They alternated doing push ups and then pull ups and crunches and other exercises, watching each other. Levi gave Fyllie little attention, and Fyllie could always see the disappointment in Erwin's eyes whenever he looked at Levi who was still crossing his arms. But Levi was an absolute _beast_. Fyllie could never beat his numbers, but she did get above average.

For the people who had made the team for their paintball skills alone and didn't have much experience with gym equipment, Hanji helped them with their form and such.

After conditioning was done, Levi eventually did break a sweat, but didn't look remotely exerted. Fyllie didn't look _exhausted_ , but she did look like she gave her full effort. The workout was demanding, especially with the pressure of wanting to do decently well for Levi. She wondered how Petra did workouts, if she was really good, and how Levi and Petra worked together.

Erwin called Levi over and they silently chatted for a few seconds, as Hanji lead the rest of them over to the shooting range and started explaining how it was done. They really weren't overly involved with their partner in this situation, they only had to stand by them and help them if they needed help, but Fyllie knew Levi would not need help. But neither did she.

Before they could shoot, everyone equipped a paintgun, a light vest and of course goggles or a face mask. Fyllie managed to fit the goggles over her glasses, but it was uncomfortable. The paintguns were very nice. They were high quality and also had cool designs. Fyllie liked her own better, but these would do nicely.

The shooting part of practice was in sections. First they would shoot the traditional way, just standing with targets infront of them, then with the targets popping up at random distances and angles away and they would have to shoot them before they went down, then moving targets, and then they themselves had to be moving. Fyllie noticed Levi never missed. She was watching Levi so much she almost forgot that she never missed either. She wondered if Levi noticed her. The two didn't talk, but when they looked at each other, Levi still looked pissed and Fyllie rolled her eyes.

"Alright we're going to mix it up, Scouts. Actually imagine you're in a match, getting shot at. You won't always be able to dodge shots just by running." Erwin said. "Hanji, give an example."

"You got it, Coach!" Hanji shouted as she ran across the shooting range and ducked down and rolled sideways, then managed to do a backflip from her ground position, shooting a target. She then got up and saluted Erwin jokingly.

"Well done, Hanji," Erwin said, nodding. "It doesn't have to be that fancy, just a simple roll will suffice, but try shooting as accurately as possible and quickly. In one month at least, I want everyone to be able to do what Hanji did. Understood?" Everyone nodded, others looking a bit more worried. "Next."

The next boy was Armin, who nervously bit his lip and tried to mentally analyze how to do something even as simple as a roll. He eventually ran out into the range, did a slow, clumsy duck and roll, then took a second to get rebalanced and shot at the target, managing to hit it.

" _Tsk_ ," Fyllie heard Levi say under his breath.

Fyllie did wonder how some of them would be able to do what Hanji did in only two months, but she just went with the idea that Erwin had taken account of everyone's physical ability and believed they were all capable of accomplishing such things.

The rest of them continued to go, some people doing okay, the remarkable ones being the girl named Mikasa, and Jean's move was pretty impressive, except he just barely hit the target. Some tried really hard tricks but missed the target. Erwin didn't seem significantly displeased with anyone, and soon enough, it was Fyllie's turn. Her turn to show what she could do.

"Don't let your stupid glasses fall off." Levi said without even looking at her.

Fyllie made sure Erwin was looking down at his clipboard before smiling cutely at Levi and then shoving her middle finger to his face. Levi rolled his eyes. Fyllie made a face at him and then ran into the range, doing a one-handed front flip, twirling her gun in her other hand, then going immediately into a roll, only to jump up into a side flip, shooting the target twice before landing.

When Fyllie stood up she looked first at Erwin, who nodded at her in approval, then looked at Levi and the others. Levi was still in his signature position, and the others besides Mikasa who looked neutral, and Ymir who was paying attention to Krista, looked very impressed. Fyllie felt relief course through her. It felt like they would understand a bit more why Erwin had picked her to be on the team, like they were looking at her like she deserved to be there, and she couldn't help but smile as she got back in line.

Levi didn't pay her any attention as he waited for her to get out of the way before sprinting out, executing a forward backflip, shooting a target mid cycle, landing on one leg and spinning into some kind of sideways triple axel-like move. When he landed, three more targets were splattered in paint. This time, Levi looked directly at Fyllie and then walked back in line.

"Well that was majestic, fairy princess. Did you pick that up in figure skating?" Fyllie said to him sarcastically.

"Why yes, I learned it at the University of "I Don't Talk to Little Shits Like You so Shut Up", Freckles." Levi retorted.

"Well at least you have a sense of humor," Fyllie said.

After a few more cycles of Fyllie and Levi one-upping each other Erwin blew a whistle and said, "Good job, everyone. You gave good effort. Trick skills are more important in paintball than one might think, make sure you're always working on your physical coordination and agility outside of practice. Now, the next thing we will be doing is a free for all. As you all know, a "Free For All" round in a Paint Wars match consists of a few separate games. Five games where one person from each team goes into a separate arena and competes against singles of other teams, and the "Team" Free For All where a set of partners or number of people from one team compete against the same number of other teams' players. The last one to get shot wins. Once you're done getting a drink, meet in the middle arena."

"Hey Fyllie, come over here!" Sasha called to Fyllie who was watching Levi and Erwin out of the corner of her eye. They seemed to be having another chat, this time Erwin looking much more frustrated and Levi of course still looking angry. The freckled girl shrugged and walked over to the others who were chilling at the drinking fountain. "So, those were some pretty impressive tricks from you we saw! I'm so jealous! One day I'll be able to do those just as good, you wait! I totally get why Coach Erwin wanted you on the team!" Sasha said, making Fyllie grin and look shyly to the ground. Fyllie wasn't good at handling sincere praise, she always felt as if she never deserved it.

"Awww, thanks so much Sasha, that really means a lot to me," Fyllie said, pushing her glasses but a bit, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears.

"No problem! We all think it!"

"You are truly amazing!" Marco agreed, nodding his head. "Coach was right to recruit you, even though I never doubted his decision in the first place." Fyllie blushed a bit from the compliment and thanked him.

"I think the same too, Fyllie!" Krista chimed sweetly.

"Yeah, you're pretty good," Eren admitted, wiping his mouth after taking a drink. "But I'm gonna be the one to beat all the Titans come the rivalry game."

"Hey Fyllie, think we can practice later together? Just us in the arena? It could be hella fun," Jean said, walking over to her.

Before Fyllie could respond, Sasha squealed and jumped up. "Oh yeah, guys! Did you hear what Coach was saying to Levi earlier? Before the shooting range, after conditioning?" Sasha didn't wait for anyone to answer. "He was telling _the_ Levi Ackerman, that he wasn't doing a good job at being the captain! Something along the lines of that he hadn't ever acted that way either. But it's true! Now that I think of it, as captain I would think that Levi would be explaining and demonstrating more drills. At tryouts he did, and have you guys noticed that he looks angrier than before? I bet it's because Petra, no?"

"Maybe he's just not as stoic as people make him out to be and is secretly a woman who just got her period," Fyllie said, causing a few laughs in amusement.

"How's being his partner?" Mikasa asked.

"Difficult, sometimes amusing," Fyllie shrugged. It was more difficult than she was willing to admit. Some things started to weigh on her, like when he called her "Freckles". Not just because he was Levi, anyone saying condescending, rude things would be difficult. Fyllie didn't know how much longer she could go on like this in a sense of how they could possibly work together as partners. It didn't seem possible.

"I'm so happy that I have my wonderful Krista as my partner! We're a match made in heaven, we're invincible as long as we have each other! Aren't we?" Ymir said, hugging Krista super tightly, who blushed a bit and giggled amusedly.

"Everyone over to the arena." Fyllie and the others almost jumped as Levi's voice pierced through the air, and they quickly picked up their paint guns and made haste towards the arena. Once they were all standing around the center which was next to a large watch tower-looking structure, Levi said, "Now, does everyone know what to do? Don't get shot and be the last one with clean clothes at the end. We all start in positions that are not in anyone else's sight, meaning you start out alone. No secret alliances, no partners, this is every man for himself. Now what are you waiting for, brats? Find a place to start."

Fyllie had observed the others during the shooting range and taken mental notes. Jean was very athletic and for the most part accurate, but she didn't know if his reflexes were good. Just because he could do a few flips didn't mean he could do them in a way that was fast and smart enough to dodge a continuous line of paintballs.

Mikasa was somehow flawless. She executed difficult but simple looking tricks, shooting spot on. She never tried anything too fancy, as if she knew it would look like she was showing off. Fyllie didn't know if Mikasa would be able to shoot someone who was extremely good at dodging, though.

Eren was a bit all over the place. Nothing he did was consistent, his tricks were sometimes sloppy and other times perfect and even cool looking, as well as his shooting.

Armin was quick and hard-thinking, Fyllie could just tell by looking at him. He seemed to be a decently accurate shooter, but not in a flash of a moment. He'd be good as a sniper or something. His tricks needed work. She could also tell he was very analytical, and she had heard somewhere that Hanji was a brains. Maybe they're partners because Erwin knew they were both on the smart side? Or maybe it was just mere leftovers and Hanji didn't care who her partner was.

Marco was a good shot as well, with decent tricks, Ymir was an aggressive shooter with simple tricks, Krista was just average, very simple tricks, but the effort she gave was acknowledgable. Sasha's tricks were wild and creative, although sloppy looking. She energy was through the roof, and her shooting skills were alright. Fyllie bet she was a great dodger. Connie did simple tricks, but was a really good shot. However he probably wasn't that good at dodging.

Hanji was a junior, pretty skilled in all areas, and Levi was just a total beast. Fyllie wondered who was better, Mikasa or Levi. The two Ackerman's. Mikasa was probably one of the greater skilled, but she was just so calm. Fyllie could sense that she had a lot more ability that she lead on, and for some reason seemed more reactive when she was around that Eren kid. She wondered if the two were a couple, but she sensed a family kind of vibe from the two.

Fyllie then heard the whistle blow and immediately started sprinting off ready to kick some ass, but she came to a stop when she heard what Erwin was saying.

"Actually, I'm sorry everyone, we're a little late on the clock and there is really something I would like to get done today, and spend some extra time on. Please put back the gear and let's begin on the second round of conditioning. You may work out by yourselves or with who ever you chose. I trust you all will work on what you feel needs improvement. If I see any slacking you will be called out."

Fyllie heard groans throughout the arena, as she walked out of the arena and out her stuff back. She noticed Levi shooting a glare at Erwin, who seemed to returning the look, but in a more professional, authoritive way.

The next 30 minutes of conditioning was hard and long, as the freckled girl ran a couple miles and did more ab work. She talked with everyone else, learning more about them, getting closer to them.

Sasha believed that skipping the Free For All had to do with Levi, but she didn't know how yet. Eren and Jean competed in everything they did, as Mikasa silently beat them both in the background. Hanji helped with people's form when they needed it, like Armin and Krista, and Levi avoided contact with everyone, not saying a single word. He glanced at Fyllie every now and then, actually looking her in the eye, but with the same disappointed gaze.

When Erwin blew his whistle, and everyone stood up, drenched in sweat.

"Great work. I'm glad to see you all have been working hard. I'm very impressed actually; you should applaud yourselves. Go get yourselves a drink. Consistent hard work is what will get you far on this team. Nothing less. Don't exert yourselves because it's the first day, exert yourselves every single practice because that's what it takes to get better. Understood?" Erwin said. Everyone nodded as they lined up a the drinking fountains.

"Now," Erwin continued, "You might be wondering why I decided to skip over the Free For All. It's because there is something more important than paintball itself, more than shooting skills, more then agility, more than any of the playing the game part. As clichéd as it is, that most important things is _teamwork_."

Fyllie couldn't help but look at Levi, as everyone looked around at each other. Levi only stared at the ground crossing his arms, partially glancing up at Erwin.

"Therefore," Erwin said, also exchanging a glance with Levi, "I'm going to extend the "Get to Know Your Team" part of practice. Everyone, it is absolutely _essential_ to have good chemistry with your team, in _and_ out of Paint Wars. Please try to improve and strengthen your relationships among the team no matter where you are. Start a group chat, go to parties, help each other with schoolwork, and especially be there for one another. The stronger you are as friends, the stronger you are on the field."

"Omg!" Hanji squealed. "After practice, write down your numbers on the white board, and I'll start the group chat! We did this year's before, it's so cool!"

"Good, Hanji." Erwin said. "Now, before getting to know your whole team, today we're just focusing on getting to know your partner. I understand that most of you have known your partner for a while, but it never hurts to have some "heart to heart" every once and a while. Causal conversation will suffice. To the others, this will be a good opportunity for you to do get to know each other, so I suggest you take advantage of it. You may begin."

Everyone broke off into their pairs and started aimlessly walking around the arena, until only Fyllie and Levi were left where they had been standing. Fyllie slowly walked over to Levi and he took a small step as to say "keep walking", and so Fyllie also took a step and they started to make their way around the arena like everyone else.

Levi still had traces of anger on his face, but he mostly looked disappointed now, his head down, raven locks hanging over his face. Fyllie looked down as well, stuffing her hands into her hoodie pockets, biting her lip.

She felt as if Levi should be the first to say something. Anything. He was the captain. He had also insulted her. He could apologize. He could ask her something about herself. He could say anything at all. Even an insult, to get _some_ conversation started. Not to mention he was the _guy_. Wait. No. Fyllie was not thinking of him in a romantic "guy makes the first move" sense. It was strictly because he was the leader here.

Fyllie glanced at him and her eyes traced his figure, his neck, his shoulders, his torso, down to his calf muscles. He was so attractive, she wouldn't deny. His height also made him more likable. For a short girl like her, it was nice to not have to strain her neck every time she wanted to look up at someone tall. Her cheeks ever so slightly glowed warm and she quickly looked away. Her stubbornness stood strong, and she refused to speak first.

This went on for almost 45 minutes. Absolute silence. No words at all. Fyllie had sighed a few times, swung her arms, looked awkwardly around, but Levi just looked down, and occasionally at her disappointedly. He also sometimes looked at the people passing by judgingly.

"5 minutes," Erwin said.

Fyllie twiddled her fingers inside her hoodie pockets. Only ten more minutes for him to say anything. Would he? Would he go a whole 45 minutes without saying _anything_ to her at all?

Fyllie watched the clock continuously, as seconds seemed to drone on and on slowly, and then tick and tock rapidly, all at once. Then, the last minute was on the clock. Accordingly to Erwin, they now had about 50 seconds to say something to each other. Fyllie still refused to be the first one.

She lost all hope of Levi saying anything, so she turned their walking direction slowly toward the gear rack, to get ready for Capture the Flag. She glanced at the clock again. 30 seconds.

"I cut my own hair." Levi said, his voice deep and dismissive, but somehow, a little less cold.

"What?" Fyllie asked, almost startled upon hearing his voice.

"I said, I cut my own hair." Levi repeated. "And I like tea."

Fyllie froze and didn't know how to respond. Luckily, Levi said something _again_.

"And I don't think freckles are that bad." He said, looking her in the eye. As if on cue, Erwin blew the whistle, and Levi walked away.

* * *

- **If you didn't read the top before, please do so! It explains some things, like who the characters belong to, as well as why the excerpt you expected to see wasn't here. Thanks so much for reading! I'm sorry about the length!**

* * *

Excerpt from the next chapter:

 _Tears started to trickle down her cheeks and she brought her hand to her mouth and bit onto her knuckle. The freckled girl sat there on the sidewalk for another minute or two, not knowing what to do. She couldn't see more the three feet ahead of her, let alone her depth perception was horrible. She couldn't make her way back to her dorm like this, and she started to panic. What if she was kidnapped? What if she had to sleep outside? Fyllie began to shake, holding in her cries, covering her face with her hands as tears gushed out of her eyes. Her phone was dead, so she couldn't even call anyone..._

 _"Fyllie?" Shit. It was Levi. Fyllie immediately wiped her still-coming tears and tried to straighten up a bit. She hated herself to look so pathetic infront of Levi. Levi, of all people. Her face was already red from crying, and now flushed with embarrassment, making her want to cry harder._

 _Levi stepped out of his car, which he had pulled up on the curb beside the sidewalk where she sat. She heard him walk over, but she couldn't look at him, not in her current state. Levi noticed her broken glasses and sighed, but not in a disappointed way. He stood there for a moment, not exactly knowing what to do._

 _"Fyllie?" He asked again._

 _"Y-y-yeah?" Fyllie sniffed._

 _"Do you need a ride?" He asked._

* * *

New Chapter very soon!


	3. Rougher Now

**_Welcome to the third chapter of my first fanfic!_**

 **NOTICE** :

-the character **Fyllie** (pronunciation: "FILL-ee") June belongs to me.

-the rest of the characters with identified names belong to the anime and manga series **Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin**. " _Trost Univeristy_ ", " _the Scouts_ ", " _The University of Utgard_ ", " _the Titans_ ", while of course are referenced from the series, are **fanmade** (by me) colleges and teams, and the idea belongs to me, and are **not** a part of the Attack on Titan's existing story.

-" **Paint Wars** ", while exists as the well known electronic music festivals, is the name of the College Paintball Sport Association in the fanfic.

- **Slight Language Warning** ; wouldn't be Attack on Titan without it.

- **Please leave a review**! Part of the reason it's so long is maybe because uneccesary detail? Tell me if some of you find it good writing with the detail, or if you would rather have a quick read. Thank you!

- **I'm Sorry** this has taken so long to come out! I haven't been able to find the time to work on it these past months, but **I will finish it** ; as I really enjoy this story and am excited to continuing writing it!

* * *

 _ **He likes tea? He cuts his own hair? What the hell?** That's the stupidest information someone could ever give someone about themselves, especially in this situation. And he doesn't think freckles are that bad? What?_

Fyllie couldn't help but blush a bit when she replayed Levi saying those words in her head. At least when he calls her "Freckles", or if he does in the future, she'd know he doesn't mean it to be insulting. Or _too_ insulting, anyways.

"Alright. I hope you all had a wonderful time with your partner. In the future, these sessions will not be every practice, and when they do occur, they will definitely not be for this long." Erwin said.

"Now, everyone gear up and get ready for Capture the Flag," Levi said, who had somehow already gotten his gear on. "To shorten this game to fit it into the time allotted, because we don't have many more minutes today, when one person from a pair gets shot, the pair is out. Is that understood? If Eren gets shot, he _and_ Mikasa will have to exit the arena. You have five minutes to meet in the main arena with your partner. Also, might I add; teamwork is important, but winning is also a key part of Paint Wars. The winning pair of Capture the Flag doesn't have to help clean up the arena at the end of the week." Levi then walked over by the arena and Fyllie noticed him and the Coach once again having a conversation of exchanging looks.

"So, what did you and Levi talk about?" Sasha asked as she skipped up beside Fyllie, holding Connie's hand.

"Not much," Fyllie replied, shrugging. "Apparently he cuts his own hair. And he likes tea."

" _He cuts his own hair and likes tea_? That's it?" Sasha asked.

"Yep." Fyllie shrugged.

Fyllie and the others made their way over to the arena and paired off with their partners. Fyllie was surprised when she saw Levi standing their waiting for her. He wasn't facing her, but he did glance her way and waited until she caught up to him before starting to walk.

Levi then started to say, "we take out Eren first so that we knock out Mikasa. Then-"

"Why can't we just run to the flag and shoot whoever we come across?" Fyllie interrupted. "Er, Captain." Running and improvising had always been her vicious style. It was dangerous but effective for those who could pull it off.

Levi didn't look like he was used to being interrupted, and he just stared at her for a short moment, and Fyllie could see the disappointed look slowly creep back onto his face. "Because... it's just safer to eliminate the biggest threats first," he said.

"Well, you're good enough to just rush through and not get hit, Captain. Plus it would be faster. Technically, if we just sprinted through we could get there before than anyone, no? Mikasa would be looking after Eren, she wouldn't be as fast as she could be. I think that we could do it, as long as we're each covering both sides." Fyllie explained.

Levi started to look annoyed. "Well, I have to watch out for your amateur ass like Mikasa does for Eren so-"

"Wait, excuse me?" Fyllie interrupted again. She gave him a look of disgust and crossed her arms, taking a step back.

"I'm just saying, it's not that you're not qualified, but-"

"But what?" Fyllie demanded, clearly frustrated. "Never mind, I don't care." The freckled girl turned away, watching Erwin bring the whistle up to his lips. His cheeks filled with air, then deflated, and then the sharp, high-pitched sound announcing the beginning of the game rung through the arena.

"Fyllie-" Levi started.

"Don't _Fyllie_ me," She snapped, as she started sprinting towards the middle of the arena, leaving Levi behind, feeling his burning eyes roll at her. She darted in between obstacles, flipping through like course with as much grace and speed she possessed, only this time with a little bit of anger. _I don't need Levi, we don't need each other. I can get the flag on my own, as long as he doesn't interfere. As long as he doesn't get shot._

 _Someone on the right_. Fyllie heard the sound of a trigger being pulled, a split second later seeing a paint ball fly by just inches away from her face, as she side flipped out of the way, firing right back. She nailed her attacker, Ymir, right in the goggles. When she landed, she immediately began sprinting again, towards the tower in the middle of the arena holding the flag.

Fyllie could hear paint shots left and right. Her reflexes had planned out every reaction she would preform under any situation perfectly. Confidence swelled inside of her and she smirked. She wondered where Levi was right now. She felt slightly ashamed for leaving him in the dust like she did, because Coach Erwin might be disappointed in her. But Coach didn't know this wasn't part of their plan. Or that they never even formulated a plan.

The freckled girl couldn't help but feel like things were a bit too easy. She hadn't come across anyone else, but that could just be that the number of people playing was so small. She mentally shrugged and then grinned as the tower grew closer to her. She grew even more anxious and excited when she saw there was a walkway leading upwards like a ramp towards the tower, a gap in between, just like the other arena. The jump seemed a bit more further, but she rushed up the walkway, leaping off the edge when she got to the end.

 _Wait, no! shit!_ It was too late. She couldn't make the jump. She'd misjudged. The gap was _far_ bigger than the one at the other arena, more than 5 feet, basically her whole height. She reached but she was far from the ledge, and regret rushed over her, all her confidence instantly fading. She failed. Levi would despise her even more than he already did, and he'd never trust her. She looked down and realized how high she was. Fyllie was almost 15 feet up. The fall would hurt almost as much as the disappointment and embarrassment she would receive.

But just before the freckled girl started to fall, she suddenly felt a pair of strong, cold hands make contact with her lower torso, one on the left side of the small of her back, the other slightly behind her right hip, giving her goosebumps. The hands pushed her forwards and up with such a force it was like she had jumped with her own legs, propelling her through the air, high enough to reach the ledge of the platform, grab on and pull herself on top.

Once she had stood up, she quickly grabbed the flag and looked towards Coach Erwin, hoping he didn't notice how red her cheeks were. She couldn't help but look down to the ground as well, where Levi stood crossing his arms and looking away from her. As much as Fyllie hated to admit it, she _did_ need Levi's help for a lot on this team. But she knew Levi also needed her, sooner or later. Levi glanced up at Fyllie and shook his head like her performance wasn't good enough, like he had been doing. But before he looked away again, Fyllie could have sworn she saw the hint of a smile on his lips.

Had Levi been behind her the whole time? Near her? Or was he the reason everything was so easy; taking everyone out?... Fyllie grew even more red. She knew he was going to rub it in her face in some rude, hurtful way; that she was stupid to just run off, and that she would have never made it without him. He'd only believe he was the better one of the pair.

She felt where his had touched her on her hip and pulled her sweatshirt down tightly, pushing up her glasses and stuffing her hands in her pockets, her paint gun tucked under her arm. A part of Fyllie found it kind of funny, that Levi would push her up like that. Why not just let her fall and then take the flag himself? Because Erwin was watching? Because he didn't want to the take the risk of having to clean? She looked back to Erwin, fidgeting in nervousness.

Erwin blew the whistle and nodded approvingly at Fyllie and Levi. She wondered if he knew that it wasn't planned. He probably did. Coach Erwin gave off the vibe that he was all knowing in the sense of what went on in the team, but with the help of Levi it seemed more convincing it was intentional. Fyllie put the flag back and climbed down off the tower and quickly walked towards the gear rack to put her equipment away. It was obvious that she was dodging Levi, she couldn't stop her mind from racing, and she couldn't even focus on the positive comments from her teammates.

Her overwhelming amount of thoughts caused her to go into a state of calm type of panic, blocking out everything else. The rest of the practice was a blur. Erwin and Levi both said some things in the team huddle, before everyone was dismissed to go to the locker rooms, before Hanji reminded them to write their number on the board so she could make the group chat.

"Fyllie," Levi said, approaching her at the white board as she wrote her number.

"Look I'm sorry I was so stupid. It was a dick move, Captain. Thanks for saving my _amateur_ _ass_." The freckled girl sighed and walked away before he could say anything else.

Fyllie was in and out of the locker room, the only thing she needed to do was get her bag. She walked out of the building on the verge of a random panic attack. She quickly found a bench up against the side of the arena and sat down, resting her elbows on her knees, her chin on her hands. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then checked her phone, only to find that it was dead. She sighed again and just closed her eyes, as the sun began to set and the shadow started to cover where she was.

Ymir and Krista walked passed her on the sidewalk, not noticing Fyllie. Fyllie didn't care of course, she was basking in her racing thoughts. A few other people Fyllie didn't care to acknowledge passed as well, and some people who came out the same exit as her walked the other way back to their dorms or wherever they were going.

Fyllie just felt utterly stupid. _What a wonderful first day of practice. Ignored and insulted by Levi. Stood up by Levi. Then went against Levi's suggestions and made a fool out of myself. Even though it may not have looked like that to everyone, I still feel like an idiot. He's never going to like me, we'll never work as partners, he'll make Erwin kick me off the team, and it'll all be for nothing._ Fyllie continued to exaggerate and worry, being to get flustered. The freckled girl tended to take things to the extremes and this was one of those times. Her face grew hot and her glasses started to fog, as tears threatened to fall.

 _And now I'm just whining like a child_ , she thought as she finally stood up after a good 10 minutes of mentally ranting. She made her way to the sidewalk, and took off her glasses to clear them with her hoodie sleeve. She squinted her eyes trying to ward away the head ache that came with not having her glasses on.

Due to her faltering vision, Fyllie didn't notice a boy walking down the sidewalk towards her, zoned out in his own world, as he kind of danced as he walked, with headphones blasting music into his ears. She didn't expect to run into anything, until she felt a body slam into hers, causing her to stumble and drop her big circular frames. Before she could react, she could hear a crunch underneath the boy's foot.

"I'm so sorry, miss! I need to watch where I'm going!" He said loudly whilst lightly grabbing her shoulders to steady her, smiling apologetically, before continuing down the sidewalk in his carefree, dancing manor. He didn't seem to notice he had crushed the girl's glasses in the slightest. Fyllie couldn't see, but she knew those were her glasses, and she felt her heart drop.

"Hey! You-..." Fyllie didn't even try to call out to the boy, as she sighed and dropped to her knees. She bit her lip as she drug her hand across the ground, gingerly gathering the pieces of her broken glasses. She couldn't help but sniff as her eyes started to sting. She didn't even have any contacts left at home, and now her glasses were crushed, let alone she was already worked up from overthinking a minute ago.

Tears started to trickle down her cheeks and she brought her hand to her mouth and bit onto her knuckle. The freckled girl sat there on the sidewalk for another minute or two, not knowing what to do. She couldn't see more the three feet ahead of her, let alone her depth perception was horrible. She couldn't make her way back to her dorm like this, and she started to panic. What if she was kidnapped? What if she had to sleep outside? Fyllie began to shake, holding in her cries, covering her face with her hands as tears gushed out of her eyes. Her phone was dead, so she couldn't even call anyone...

"Fyllie?" Shit. It was Levi. Fyllie immediately wiped her still-coming tears and tried to straighten up a bit. She hated herself to look so pathetic infront of Levi. Levi, of all people. Her face was already red from crying, and now flushed with embarrassment, making her want to cry harder.

Levi stepped out of his car, which he had pulled up on the curb beside the sidewalk where she sat. She heard him walk over, but she couldn't look at him, not in her current state. Levi noticed her broken glasses and sighed, but not in a disappointed way. He stood there for a moment, not exactly knowing what to do.

"Fyllie?" He asked again.

"Y-y-yeah?" Fyllie sniffed.

"Do you need a ride?" He asked.

Fyllie quickly shook her head. "N-N-No, I'm ok-k-kay," she sniffed, failing miserably at picking the rest of her broken glasses pieces.

Levi sighed again, and kneeled down beside her, scooping up the rest of the pieces, and even took the broken pieces from her own hand. The frames were crushed and bent beyond repair, and the glass was obviously unfixable.

Fyllie just covered her face, and shook with silent tears.

"Fyllie, dorms are all the way across campus from where we are. Can you even see?" Levi asked.

"I'm f-f-fine," Fyllie stuttered, wiping her face and standing up. She wobbled a bit, and blinked out as many tears she could and tried to focus on anything ahead of her. Levi stood up beside her, his one hand still holding the pieces of her glasses, the other hand in his pocket. He looked off to the side, still not fully knowing of what to do.

Fyllie squinted and took a step, then a few more. Her head started throbbing and the ground changed a bit. It felt soft all of a sudden. Grass? Fyllie looked down and saw a blur of green. _I can't even walk in a straight line_.

"Fyllie come on, get in the car. I'll drive you home," Levi said, examining the biggest chunk of glass he had gathered from the pieces. "And holy shit you're blind." He said after looking through the piece, quickly taking it away from his eye.

Fyllie turned towards where his voice was coming from, and she could barely make out his figure. She sniffed and nodded, then walked over to him a little wobbly. Levi gently took her arm and guided her towards the passenger side of his car. Fyllie flinched at his touch. He opened the door, and then placed her hand on the side of the seat so she could get in.

Fyllie clumsily climbed into the front seat. When she had sat down, she managed to find the buckle, strapped herself in, and then pulled her knees up to her chest. She took a deep breath and wiped away the remainder of her tears. She noticed that the car was very clean. The smell of it was what really caught her attention. For a college boy, it was quite likely to have been the cleanest car she had ever been in besides when her family got a brand new vehicle.

Levi climbed in the drivers seat and started the car. Fyllie could feel his gaze on her, but without any judgement or disappointment. She was surprised, and would've said something if she wasn't so disappointed in herself.

"Which dorm do you live in?" Levi asked.

"East." Fyllie answered quietly. There were four main dorms, each located at the border of the campus, stationed in their cardinal direction.

The car ride was silent. Fyllie put her face in her knees and closed her eyes, trying to rid her headache. Levi didn't say anything, and he didn't sigh or express any kind of disappointment. He was surprisingly calm, and the energy in the car helped Fyllie to calm down.

"We're here," Levi said after a few minutes. He parked the car and got out, as Fyllie lifted her head, blinking repeatedly and squinting. She sighed and covered her eyes for a moment, basking in her self loathing.

"Are you...okay?..." Levi asked after he opened her door.

Fyllie slowly nodded yes and unbuckled herself. She started to get out of the car, and then felt Levi's firm but gentle grip on her shoulder. He guided her to step in a straight line, and they walked through the automatic doors together.

"What floor are you on?" Levi asked.

"4th," Fyllie replied.

She felt them enter an elevator, and heard the little ding when the doors closed. Everything was a blur to her, she couldn't make out anything except for people's figures if they moved or if their clothing colors stood out.

"What room number are you?" Levi asked as they stepped out of the elevator, his hand still on her shoulder. Fyllie answered him and he guided her down the hallway. When they reached her room Levi asked, "Do you have your key?"

Fyllie reached in her pockets and handed her Student ID keycard to card to him, and Levi unlocked the door with a swipe and gave it back to her between her fingers. He opened the door and they walked inside.

"Thanks so much," Fyllie said, managing to feel her bed and sit down. "Really, this is crazy. I can't even process this." She sighed her shoulders slumped into a relaxed position, full of relief.

"It's nothing." Levi answered. "I'm assuming you have contacts, no?"

"Yeah I do," Fyllie replied.

"Do you need me to get them for you?"

"No, I got it," Fyllie said as she stood up and felt her way around the room, clumsily entering the bathroom. She felt the walls for the cabinet, opened it and pulled down a little contacts case. The one thing she could do without her eyesight was find them, having done it a million times before. She'd been wearing contacts since she was in the 2nd grade, and even with her horrible depth perception, she always knew exactly home many steps and how long the reaches were to get them.

Fyllie quickly unscrewed one of the caps and stuck her finger in the little cup of liquid to get her contact. But she felt nothing. Then it hit her.

 _She had washed her last pair of contacts down the drain this morning._

Fyllie went livid and covered her face, slowly lowering herself to the ground in a ball.

"Fyllie? What's wrong?" Levi asked, suddenly right by her side.

"N-Nothing. Th-thanks so m-much, but you c-c-can leave n-now. I'm s-s-sorry for w-wasting your t-t-time," Fyllie stuttered, sniffing.

"Fyllie?" Levi seemed confused, but quickly caught on as he stood up, seeing the empty container. He looked in the cabinet and quickly checked the other cases just to be sure, but there weren't any left. He sighed and knelt back down to her.

"Hey," he started, "is this your current prescription?" He waved a paper in the air.

Fyllie looked up wiping her tears on her sleeves and nodded. She couldn't see it, but she knew it was; she kept it with her contacts.

"Get up," Levi said.

"W-Why?" Fyllie asked.

"I'm taking you to get more contacts," He said, his deep voice demanding but calm.

Fyllie was done. She was so overwhelmingly confused. Maybe she was dreaming. Levi, after the first practice of just being disappointed in her, angry that she was there and not Petra, showing her he didn't find her good enough, offered her a ride home, took her home, guided her to her dorm, and now offered to take her to get more contacts.

Not to mention how he _touched_ her. He was kind. He wasn't rough. He was making sure she wouldn't fall, he wasn't _angry_. In the car and now and even when he saw her on the ground in the first place he wasn't mad, or at least didn't show it. Fyllie thought Levi hated her and would _prefer_ she lost her glasses so she couldn't be part of the team. But he's offering to _help_?

The door then swung open and slammed shut.

"Seriously, Fyllie? When are you _not_ moping your ass around? God you're such a mess. Hey I'm having a party tomrrow night so you better find somewhere else to stay. And pick up your shit, I live here too you know, and I don't want my friends to know I have such an unstable, ugly roommate-"

"Hey." Levi's deep menacing voice interrupted Fyllie's roommate's. "Shut the hell up."

"Who are you?" The girl scoffed, acting offended she was interrupted. She recognized him to be the captain of the paintball team; it was impossible to have not seen his picture somewhere around campus.

Levi ignored her question. "Don't ever say a word like that to Fyllie ever again. Understood?" Fyllie couldn't see, but Levi looked pissed. And even though he was short, the look he had could have scared off an army.

The girl scoffed again, feeling intimidated but showing anger. "She's my roommate. I can talk to her however I want-"

Fyllie then felt Levi's hand under her arm lifting her up to her feet a bit roughly from his anger, and pulling her over to where her roommate was.

"She's part of _my_ team. She's _my_ responsibility. And as a captain, I have to make sure that they're in their best condition. Physically _and_ mentally. And if I need to kick you out of this dorm so Fyllie won't be affected by your disgusting voice then I will." Levi said threateningly but somehow steady.

Fyllie's roommate didn't know what to say after that. She stood their silent, glaring at Levi, who was glaring back. Levi's grip was strong on Fyllie's shoulder still.

"Now, I'm going to take Fyllie to get more contacts. Tomrrow night, you lock her out and I'll have you expelled. Understood?" Levi pulled Fyllie out the door, and kicked it shut behind them.

Fyllie was lost for words. She felt like crying again. It just felt so crazy that someone, _anyone_ , cared about her enough to say that for her. Let alone _Levi_.

"Th-Thanks," Fyllie managed, completely shocked. She was even more surprised and almost had a panic attack when she felt his fingers slip into hers, holding her hand tightly.

"Don't mention it. I can't believe she says stuff like that. What a bitch." Levi said.

"Can you really get her expelled?" Fyllie asked.

"Yeah. If not, I could make her life hell though." Levi replied.

"Don't do that, Levi," Fyllie quickly said.

"Whatever. But if she doesn't stop, then I'll have her move dorms."

Fyllie bit her lip and couldn't help it when she felt her cheeks get warm, the ends of her mouth curving up slightly. She couldn't even help it when she started laughing.

"The hell you laughing at?" Levi asked, opening the car door and getting her in.

"It's just that you're confusing. And I find it really funny," Fyllie said through giggles.

"Tch." Levi rolled his eyes and shut the door, then got in on his side.

Fyllie did find it amusing. She found it amusing _that_ she found it amusing. She couldn't take the grin off her face. She didn't even know exactly what she was laughing about. It was just that Levi acted like he hated her, or he did hate her but somehow he'd helped her so much, and the way he stood up to her roommate was incredible. When he got so angry at her for talking to Fyllie like that, it was so shocking because Levi didn't even want her to be part of the team in the first place. It was all so confusing to Fyllie but it made her kind of happy. Like, she felt as if Levi didn't despise her so much. And that was good enough.

Like, Fyllie knew that when she really needed it, Levi would be there.

Levi started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, and started driving. Fyllie still couldn't see anything, but didn't care anymore. She felt safe.

"Can we turn on the radio?" She asked.

"And listen to all that pop-y shit? Hell no," Levi replied.

Fyllie kind of giggled and shook her head. Levi wasn't going to be _too_ nice to her.

The ride was still silent, neither knowing what to say. Fyllie wanted to ask Levi about why he cared so much, rather, why he cared for _her_ specifically and didn't just leave her on the sidewalk. Maybe because if Erwin found out he'd be in trouble.

Fyllie didn't know where the nearest optical store was; her parents normally mailed her contacts when they knew they were due, but since the accident, Fyllie knew she couldn't expect them. She looked down and sighed. She hoped they would wake up soon.

Fyllie was getting used to the headache now, though it hurt. Her eyes seemed to give up on trying to focus on anything, so it didn't hurt too bad. It was just a steady pulse in her skull, like a heartbeat.

Levi had turned on the radio, but not for music. It was some kind of broadcast station with news of paintball teams. Fyllie tried to tune in, but she was clouded with other racing thoughts.

"Shit. Those goddamn Titans." Levi said under his breath.

"What about them?" Fyllie asked weakly.

"They're stats are good this year. Too good. Apparently they have three new players, one who's at maybe a senior level, and one is practically a legend." Levi answered.

"Who are they?" Fyllie asked.

"Just a bunch of dicks, I don't know. Honestly I-" Levi stopped himself. He sighed in a way that said "never mind", and Fyllie noticed he tired to cover up the feeling with over focusing on a turn. Levi leaned too forward, opposed to his distinctly casual driving style.

"Hm?" Fyllie asked.

"Nothing." Levi said.

Fyllie didn't know if it was because what Levi was going to say something he felt Fyllie would judge him for, or because Levi thought that Fyllie didn't deserve to hear it. She looked down. She felt it was probably the latter.

"I'm sorry," she said, biting her lip.

"For what?" Levi asked.

"For... prying? I don't know..." Fyllie answered.

"You didn't pry." Levi replied sternly.

Fyllie looked down and decided not to say anything. It's still Levi. It's still the same Levi she heard telling Erwin that he didn't want her on the team. He still doesn't like her. Maybe as a team mate. Because it's his responsibility. But he doesn't care. He's not going to be her friend. He's not going to talk to her like she's a friend. He's just going to get her what she needs because Erwin probably wants him to and that's it.

Fyllie started to feel her headache come on again, and she buried her face in her hands.

Soon enough the car was parked. Fyllie sighed and started to lift her head. Levi wasn't moving, however. Fyllie felt his eyes on her, and her heartbeat sped up nervously. _What's he thinking of me now?_ , she thought.

"I have a bad feeling about this year. About the Titans. About the new recruits for Utgard. It's a gut thing; Hanji wouldn't take me seriously and Erwin doesn't really care about that since there's nothing he could do about it and there's nothing he would want me to do either. But I know one of those three if not all are kicking up shit somehow." Levi said, somewhat harshly, but somehow apologetically.

"Whatever. I don't care, you don't have to share your thoughts with me, Levi." Fyllie replied, clumsily finding the door handle and getting out.

"Excuse me?" Levi asked, clearly confused as he got out, holding her prescription in his hand, locking the car doors after.

"I said it's whatever," Fyllie said, her head throbbing. It was hard to establish a harsh controlling tone when she was totally helpless at the moment. But she was pissed off.

It wasn't fair that Fyllie was left in the dark, that Levi could think whatever he wanted about her and she was left to figure it out with her anxiety ridden mind. It wasn't fair that Levi could decide what and what not to say to her, and it wasn't fair that Fyllie never knew what to say because she'd never know if Levi was just doing things because of her being part of the team, or if he might care.

It wasn't fair that Levi could withhold whatever he wanted while he knew Fyllie was beating herself up inside and worrying her ass off after whatever he had said. Fyllie finally decided that he didn't care.

Levi still walked over to her and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her on the sidewalk. "No. Tell me. As a captain you have to do what I say."

Fyllie rolled her aching eyes. "But _you_ don't have to tell _me_ anything. And you won't." Fyllie said through her teeth. "And don't drag me around like some damn animal, _Captain_ Levi-"

Levi interrupted her. "You couldn't walk five steps without me, let alone get your damn contacts-"

"Then you should've just left me on the sidewalk!" Fyllie shouted, tears welling up in her eyes. She then felt her back meet something hard, as Levi pushed her roughly against the side of the optical store's wall.

Levi spoke with a menacing voice, but Fyllie wasn't afraid, she was angry as well. "God you're such a child. I really do have to watch over your amateur ass. I wish-"

"That I was off the team. That I never existed. That Erwin listened to you better. That you got what you wanted. That you never had to meet me." Fyllie said, her voice shaking with emotion. Tears slid down her cheeks and her face was hot. The words stung her as they came out of her mouth.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Levi demanded.

"I heard you and Erwin talking before practice, Levi. I know how much you hate me. Just leave me here. I'll get my own goddamn contacts and I'll get a ride home. Just leave me alone, and don't you ever touch me again." Fyllie said as she tried to push his arms off her shoulders.

"You don't even have your phone, it was dead; I plugged that shit in at your dorm while I was standing up for you against your bitch of a roommate," Levi snapped. He readjusted his hands on her shoulders, keeping her against the wall. He made it sound like it was Fyllie's fault for having a bad roommate. It was a huge guilt trip.

Fyllie looked down and let tears stream down her face. She bit her lip and went limp, still shaking just a little. She tried to take a deep breath, but couldn't. Her fists were clenched together, but slowly unfolded, letting her fingers hang beside her legs.

"You know what," she started.

"What." Levi said.

"Maybe Petra injured herself on purpose so she wouldn't have to deal with a prick like you." Fyllie said through her teeth. She was still looking down, but she could sense the shock flash through her captain.

"Tch." Levi let go of her shoulders. "Have fun getting yourself home." he said steadily in a deep, stern voice. He then stuck her prescription paper in her hand and walked back to his car, got in and drove away.

* * *

Excerpt from the next chapter:

 _"I'm pretty sure all of us-" before Fyllie could finish, Levi shushed her and swiftly pulled her into Hanji's closet, so fast Fyllie had no idea what was happening until she felt all types of clothes hanging in her face, surrounding her legs and under her feet._

 _"Someone's coming,"_ _Levi's voice came from right behind her ear, and she suddenly came aware of her back and shoulder being pressed tightly against his rock solid stomach and chest. His arms were wrapped tightly around her torso, and she knew that if he let go, she would fall forward. The clothes piled up more towards the back of the closet; it was like she was standing on a shifty slope._

 _Fyllie's face became hot and her heart was beating out of her chest. Levi's breath brushed across her ear, giving her goosebumps. She shifted ever so slightly and felt his sharp hipbones press against her lower back._

 _Before she could have a panic attack about being so close to Levi, three people entered Hanji's room. She looked hard through the louvered doors, trying to catch their faces. Two tall boys and a short girl._

 _They went straight to Hanji's desk and dug around for a minute or so. The girl picked up a notebook. Fyllie felt Levi's arms squeeze her tighter._

 _"Got it," the girl said._

 _"Shit," Levi whispered under his breath._

 _And then they were gone._

 _"Was that..?" Fyllie whispered, not knowing if it was safe for them to get out of the closet._

 _"Yeah. Bertolt, Reiner, and Annie Leonhart. The new recruits for the Utgard's Titans." Levi said._

* * *

Thanks for reading! Next Chapter hopefully by the end of April!


	4. Walking on Ice

**_Welcome to the fourth chapter of my first fanfic!_**

 **NOTICE** :

-the character **Fyllie** (pronunciation: "FILL-ee") June belongs to me.

-the rest of the characters with identified names belong to the anime and manga series **Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin**. " _Trost Univeristy_ ", " _the Scouts_ ", " _The University of Utgard_ ", " _the Titans_ ", while of course are referenced from the series, are **fanmade** (by me) colleges and teams, and the idea belongs to me, and are **not** a part of the Attack on Titan's existing story.

-" **Paint Wars** ", while exists as the well known electronic music festivals, is the name of the College Paintball Sport Association in the fanfic.

- **Slight Language Warning** ; wouldn't be Attack on Titan without it.

- **Wow I didn't think it would done this soon**! I'm very sorry about the length, but I had a lot I wanted to add in this chapter. I've decided that I'm not going to worry about chapter length. None of them will exceed 10k words, promise. But from now on, chapters will range from 4k - 9k.

- **Please leave a review**! It means a lot! Thank you!

* * *

 ** _2 Weeks Later_**

"Sasha! Gah, we're in public!" Fyllie squealed as the potatochip-obsessed girl pulled her over so they both were laying horizontally in the booth.

"Lighten up and have some fun!" Sasha replied back, hugging Fyllie more tightly. "Wow your hair smells nice!"

"Oh my god this is so weird," Fyllie said, not being able to hold back giggles.

"Heyyy, why don't I get a huuug?" Connie asked.

"Because you guys are dry humping every other second," Jean said, mouth full with the contents of a big ass, greasy burger.

The whole team, excluding Levi and Hanji, were at a restaurant together, for "team bonding". It was actually quite fun. The past two weeks of practice and hanging out in general, really made it seem like they were a family, and in such short time.

Fyllie had never had close friends, so she was getting used to the idea of it all. She'd never had someone like Sasha, that hugged her randomly with so much energy, or someone like Marco, to encourage her and of course everyone else when they made the smallest mistake or correct Fyllie when she apologized too much. She never had anyone, really. She could have chosen to be more social but she just preferred paintballing instead.

Fyllie once tried to invite a couple of kids to paint ball with her for her 10th birthday, but they were no where near her level so it wasn't fun at all. Fyllie's best friends were honestly the employees at the Paintball Parks, who saw her the most. The employees would play paintball if there weren't enough players sometimes.

"Gross, Jean." Eren said as he ate.

"Are you sure those are good bite sizes for you? You might choke," Mikasa said in her monotone, but motherly voice to Eren.

"We don't dry hump!" Connie said, hands behind his head, eyes closed in his own little world.

"Ugh, don't even talk about your sad couple life," Ymir said, "you're no where near where Krista and I are! Like I said, were getting married-"

"Yeah, yeah. We all know you guys are going to get married," Jean interrupted, receiving a death glare from Ymir.

"It's okay Ymir, let Connie and Sasha talk about themselves! They're cute!" Krista said sweetly, like the little angel goddess she is.

"But never as cute as us!" Ymir said.

"Sasha, people think we're weird, lemme sit up!" Fyllie giggled.

"We are weird!" Sasha said happily.

"Sashaaa," Fyllie whined.

"Fiiine," Sasha said letting go, pulling Fyllie back up. "You aren't used to being close to people, are you?"

"Well I'm not used to being attacked with hugs at random times for no reason," Fyllie said, rolling her eyes with a smile on her face.

"You'll get used to it!" Sasha said.

"Guys, is anyone like, _super_ fired up for our match tomorrow?" Eren asked, his fork and knife in hand. "It's not the Titans, but it's _someone_. Our first match of the year. The first shot we have at establishing dominance over Paintwars, proving we are a force to be reckoned with! We're going to _crush_ them! _Destroy_ them! And-"

"Woah woah, calm down someone's gonna call the cops," Jean joked.

"I find your passion inspiring, Eren! Your determination will take you far in life!" Marco said supportingly, smiling happily.

"Don't encourage him." Ymir said.

"His determination and his physical capabilities are complete different things," Fyllie giggled.

"Exactly!" Jean said, a bit over-enthusiasticly. "You're exactly right!"

"Obvious, much, Jean?" Armin asked.

"Shut up," Jean said. "Aren't you supposed to be studying?" It was a joke, for the yellow haired boy was always obsessing about school work.

"Actually," Armin started, taking his comment literally, "Hanji has helped me with a lot of it, so I'm ahead a few chapters in everything!"

"Jesus Christ, little man." Jean rolled his eyes.

"That's great!" Marco said.

"Good for you, Armin!" Krista chimed.

"Thanks!" Armin replied.

"Okay but Eren does have a point, I'm super excited for our first match. We're going to do great. We've worked so hard in such a short amount of time," Sasha said.

"Our work has been mildly impressive," Mikasa admitted.

"Speaking of our work, we all still smell like shit," Fyllie said. The team had just come directly from practice, and today was rigorous. They didn't do any conditioning, floor work or lifting, but it was all Paintball. Running and jumping and flipping around, repeatedly, again and again without a break. They were dripping sweat afterwards; thank goodness everyone had a change of clothes. However even with deodorant, the smell was still there and strong.

"Yeah we do," Sasha said as she made a face.

"But we have food, so everything is A-OK!" Connie said, slurping in a single noodle for what seemed like minutes.

"I guess that puts things into perspective." Fyllie giggled.

"Speaking of perspective, how is it with you and Captain Levi?" Krista asked. "The bigger picture is the whole team. And you still haven't talked about what's been going on with you two after-"

"Yeah... Er, I don't wanna talk about it; it doesn't matter," Fyllie said, a nervous smile on her face.

After Levi had left her at the optical store, Fyllie managed to get inside and received immediate help. She got her contacts, and even a new pair of glasses with their insurance. Before she could ask for someone's phone to use to call someone, the entire team was basically there to get her.

She told them what happened, and when they got to her to her dorm, Sasha stayed with her. Fyllie's roommate must have been scared off from earlier with Levi, and she didn't come back that night.

Fyllie just broke down and cried, and let Sasha hug her and comfort her, and somehow Sasha made her feel like why she was crying was valid, and Fyllie was able to calm down in only minutes.

The two spent the whole night talking about random things, what they enjoyed and what they didn't, what tv shows they binged and movies they could quote, what music they loved, the weird embarrassing obsessions they had, and eventually, what happened with her and Levi in every detail and why it made Fyllie feel what she did.

And afterwards, after falling asleep together watching anime on Netflix until 3am, Fyllie felt better. Not better from the previous day, better about herself, about everything.

Since then, everything kind of flowed together, like with the team members. Fyllie was finally able to let go of her fear that they thought she wasn't deserving to be on the team. They all thought she was fine, and they felt kind of bad that she came as a sophomore and didn't know anyone. They also felt bad that she got paired up with Levi, as that was obviously intimidating.

At the next practice, the team was by her side, and treated her as if they had known her for a year, too. And Fyllie was overwhelmed but loved it. The whole group. How Mikasa mothered Eren. How Jean and Eren went at it. How Marco supported everyone, with Krista as well, and how Ymir loved Krista. She loved Connie and Sasha together, and how Connie was so goddamn chill on such a comical level. She loved how Armin was so timid but smart and nice, and how he cared for Eren as well.

It was just great. The group dynamic. The best part was that all the making fun, all the teasing was just for fun and no one was ever actually offended, which was something that Fyllie was scared for at first.

She loved Hanji too, of course. The sophomore recruits were like a little family, and Hanji was like everyone's weird, but cool aunt. And she was always busy with things so she couldn't always hang out. Apparently she was one of her class's top students and was taking so many courses that her schedule was packed. No one had any idea how she lived under the pressure. She was late for things every now and then, but lived completely stress free.

She was also the leader and organizer of two other recognized science groups, and was somehow always prepared for everything; never scatter-brained. She also ran the group chat the team had, being the caring reminder to everyone about everything, like heads up on what they were doing in practice, and if they should bring extra clothes and everything like that. She also encouraged everyone to hang out.

Overall, Fyllie was loving her life on campus. She didn't give Levi much thought throughout the days, and besides never having a family of friends before, she totally embraced the team as they welcomed her. She was comfortable around them, especially with Sasha as her best friend. But the silence between her and Levi was panging at her insides, whether she recognized it or not.

"C'mon, open up! We all wanna know!" Krista continued.

"Yeah, has he said anything about me?" Eren asked.

"Fyllie doesn't have to talk about it if she doesn't want to," Sasha smiled.

"Well I guess," Fyllie hesitated.

They all leaned in waiting for her next words.

"Well," she started, "we haven't talked. At all."

The rest of the group had heard Fyllie's story before. She explained everything she did to Sasha, a few days later. They knew what she said and how Levi treated her, how he helped her and when he was nice, and how he stood up to roommate for her.

Fyllie could remember the whole conversation.

" _But then he left you there at the optical store_?" _Krista had asked_.

" _Yeah, after all he did for you_ ," _Armin sighed_.

" _He's so stupid, I'm going to punch him the next time I see him!_ " _Eren said_.

" _No, no_ ," _Fyllie shook her head quickly_. " _Don't do that_."

" _The point is that what Levi did wasn't appropriate for him being captain. Even though he was angry, he's supposed to help through it. And he came short of that_." _Mikasa said_.

" _He_ did _help me. It was harder but it wasn't like I couldn't find my way in the store_ ," _Fyllie said_.

" _Yeah, but someone could have taken you_ ," _Ymir said_.

" _Yeah! You should've called me to be your protector!_ " _Jean said_.

" _She didn't have her phone, dumbass_." _Eren said_.

" _And she didn't have our numbers yet, shitbrain_ ," _Ymir added_.

" _Guys, at least Captain Levi called Hanji to tell us to pick up Fyllie_ ," _Marco said_. " _He did help her even after he left_."

" _Yeah_ ," _Fyllie agreed_. " _Besides, I did say that thing about Petra..._ "

" _Yeah... Ouch_." _Jean said_.

" _Who's Petra_?" _Connie asked_.

" _Levi's ex-partner you idiot_ ," _Eren replied_.

" _It was wrong of me to bring something like that up, it really was. Petra means a lot to Levi, and it must be hard for him not having her as a partner, you know?_ " _Fyllie said_.

" _Give yourself a little credit," Sasha said. "He had you against a wall. Physically_."

" _I mean, I'm over it. I really am. It's you guys who I'm spending time with, and I love that. I've decided with Sasha's help there's no need to try to kindle a relationship with Levi. We're good enough as we are, we don't need to talk. If he won't mind me, I won't mind him_." _Fyllie said contently_.

" _Good for you_ ," _Marco had smiled_.

And Fyllie _was_ over it. She was proud of herself for that. It was just hard talking about how things were _now_ with Levi, because it was disappointing.

"You haven't spoken _at all_???" They all asked in different ways, all at the same time.

"He hasn't apologized?" Krista asked, shocked.

"What was it like seeing him for the first time the next practice?" Armin asked.

"Have you said like, even small words to each other?" Eren asked.

"What about when we do conditioning? Does he say a number when you're done?" Mikasa added.

"What about when we Paintball actually, do you discuss a game plan?" Jean asked.

Fyllie was overwhelmed with questions.

"No. We don't talk at all. Not one word has been exchanged between us since he left me at the store. Not one. He's never apologized, he doesn't say the number after we do sit ups and stuff. When we actually play Paintball, I run off like I did the first day and he covers me and vice versa. When I first saw him after he left me he looked away and crossed his arms. He hasn't ever seemed like he's wanted to say anything to me, and I've given him a chance. I'm sure Erwin is up his ass about it, since Hanji knows kind of what happened. But I don't want him to apologize or whatever just because Coach told him to. And I don't care if he ever does." Fyllie answered. She sighed and looked down; it was disappointing, but it was the truth. And she did care, just a little bit.

"Wow." Ymir said.

"What the shit," Jean said.

"How does Hanji know?" Connie asked.

" _Because Levi told Hanji to tell us to pick Fyllie up you stupid egg head_ ," Ymir answered.

"Heyyy, don't insult my babe's beautiful buzz-y cut!" Sasha said, hugging Connie, who probably didn't hear the comment at all.

"So you two haven't said anything?" Marco asked, in total disbelief.

"As a leader, as the captain he should be willing and wanting to solve this inbetween you, whether Coach says so or not. I can't believe this," Krista sighed.

"It's whatever," Fyllie assured. "Besides, excluding what happened between me and him, he's still a good captain. He doesn't like our mess interfere with him at practice and when he's instructing or helping us." Fyllie always made sure that when she talked about Levi, she mentioned the good. She didn't want the team to not like him, or disrespect him because of her. She did respect Levi, he just a had a temper.

"I suppose that's true," Mikasa admitted.

And Levi _was_ a really good captain these past practices. He was respectable, not overly harsh (except to Eren for some reason), offered advice (though in strict tones of course), and explained things effectively. He was right in almost all cases of his perspective, and whenever someone showed lacking in an area, he knew how to fix it.

Eren started to say, "Yeah, but Fyllie-"

"Is a mother-flippin' badass that can handle herself," Sasha interjected. "If it doesn't bother her than we can all let this go. Sure Levi wasn't respectable in that case, he was far from that, and I do want to clob him in the face for it, but we can't let this interfere with how we see him. Now, is there a vending machine in this place because I really want some potato chips," Sasha said, smiling at Fyllie.

Fyllie was glad. Sasha summed up exactly what Fyllie felt. She smiled at Sasha in a way that said, "thanks so much," and Sasha understood.

The team was silent for a second or two to take that in and then all slowly nodded their heads in agreement.

"Sasha you've had 14 bags of Potato chips today." Mikasa said.

"And this is a _nice_ restaurant," Eren added.

" _They don't have a vending machine_ ," Ymir said.

"And if they did, they'd sell pasta and burgers and fancy stuffs!" Connie added.

"Or, maybe _healthier_ stuff," Krista said, trying to draw the attention away from Connie's stupid comment, as Eren, Jean and Ymir face-palmed.

"Don't you want to know what Captain Levi's thinking?" Marco asked one last time, showing his sweet caring side while the others discussed vending machines. "Maybe what he'd say to you the first time you guys do talk? Assuming he initiated the conversation?"

Fyllie thought it over for a second. "I-"

"Fyllie." Levi's voice cut through the air like knives, slicing that entire mood of the restaurant.

Eren nearly shat his pants, and Krista would have jumped out of her skin if Ymir hadn't protectively hugged her. Jean spit out contents of his greasy burger back onto his plate, and Sasha's mouth dropped so the floor. Connie didn't even notice Levi was there, and Mikasa just looked his way. Marco smiled, and Armin was startled but didn't react too much.

"Yes, Captain?" Fyllie asked, surprised that he was speaking to her. And now of all places. She normally knew what she would do under a lot of already thought out circumstances, but Levi coming to confront her _now_ was not something she expected at all.

"I would like if you came with me." He said, steadily. His tone wasn't demanding but Fyllie could tell that he was holding it back.

"I'm eating with my friends," Fyllie said.

"Your plate's empty." Levi replied, walking over to the table. He then dropped two one hundred dollar bills on the table. "Your food's on me, everyone."

Fyllie sighed and bit her lip, looking at everyone. She felt like she had to go, as much as she knew bailing out would be rude.

"Go with him, it's fine, Fyllie," Sasha said, as if she could read her mind.

Fyllie smiled lightly, and looked back to Levi. She didn't know what he wanted or where he wanted her to go, but she decided they'd have to talk eventually and solve whatever it was in between them, and better now than never. Besides, they had their first match tomorrow and it would be better for them if they could openly communicate.

The freckled girl stood up. "Alright. I'll go," she said, shoving her hands in her pocket, grabbing her bag. As she started to sling it over her shoulder, Levi grabbed the strap and slung it over his.

"I'll carry it for you. Let's go." Levi said, turning around, starting to walk to the exit."You brats better not screw around before our match tomrrow," he called back to the group.

"Bye, guys," Fyllie said, before walking after their captain.

Levi held the door for Fyllie as they exited the restaurant, and walked through the parking lot, walking beside her and not in front of her. He then unlocked his car, opened the passenger side door for her, closed it after she got in, and then jumped in on his side.

Fyllie buckled herself and sat their awkwardly, her leg bouncing in anxiousness.

Levi started the car, pulled out of the parking lot and starting driving through campus. It was silent for a few minutes, and Fyllie's phone was blowing up with texts in the group chat from everyone.

"I'm sorry for two weeks ago, Fyllie." Levi said in a deep voice; sincere, not overly-apologetic and steady. "It was wrong. As a captain it was wrong. Even if I wasn't a captain it would be wrong."

Fyllie didn't answer for a little bit. She processed his words slowly, accepting it as a sincere apology.

"Thanks," Fyllie started, "it's fine. All you did for me really covers it up, I guess. I never did thank you properly for all you did." Fyllie looked down. "Thanks for everything you did. It was... really caring of you."

Levi was silent for a moment as well.

"It's not fine." Levi said. "I was wrong. ...And you're welcome."

Fyllie lightly smiled. "I'm sorry for what I said about-"

"Don't mention it," Levi interrupted.

Before Fyllie could say anything, Levi turned on the radio station, and current pop music filled the car. Fyllie couldn't help but smile, and rested her arm on the elbow rest, and propped up her head with her hand.

Fyllie didn't bother asking where they were going; it really didn't matter. She would find out soon, and now it was the time to just relax in a way. To exhale. Levi apologized. Fyllie apologized. Fyllie thanked him. It was over with. During the actual apology, even as short as it was, it was nerve-wracking but afterwards it's like a wave of relief.

After a few more minutes, Levi pulled up in the driveway of a small split apartment on campus. One side was yellow, and the other side was pink. There was a front porch, and a divider in the middle. The two sides were identical. Juniors and seniors, who were good students of course, were allowed to live in these apartments. They were comfy and obviously bigger than dorms, and fun if you had a good roommate(s). He parked the car and got out, and Fyllie got out as well.

"Where are we?" Fyllie asked.

"I want you to meet someone." Levi replied. He walked up the stairs to the front porch on the left side, and rang the doorbell.

Fyllie stepped up beside him.

"Come in!" Fyllie heard someone, a girl's voice calling from inside.

Levi opened the door and held it for Fyllie. The freckled girl stepped inside, and Levi followed afterwards.

Fyllie looked around at everything and smiled. It was so cute inside, fun-looking and pretty. There were cute decorations and the casual "college student girl" vibe, but with a hint of general cheerfulness. Her eyes finally landed on a girl siting on the couch, one of her legs propped up on a table in front of her. That leg had a huge cast on it, from her mid-thigh to her toes. She had light brown hair to her shoulders, and smiled sweetly.

"Hey Captain, and hello, I'm Petra, nice to meet you Fyllie," Petra said, waving lightly.

"Hello, nice to meet you too," Fyllie said awkwardly. She knew it was Petra from pictures and such, and lightly smiled as well, not really knowing what to say, or what Levi wanted to accomplish by bringing her here.

"Have a seat, you guys," she said, smiling cheerfully. "How are you today?"

"Fine," Levi said. "I'll make us some tea."

Petra nodded as Levi went into the other room to the kitchen area. He'd obviously been here before.

"I'm good, I guess," Fyllie replied, slowly sitting down in a comfy chair. "How are you?"

"I'm pretty good, just doing homework," Petra answered. "So, how's being on the Scouts?"

"Really awesome," Fyllie said, not being able to hide her grin. She lit up whenever she talked about it; it was what she loved. It was like all the awkwardness disappeared as well. "It's great, the team is great, as people and as players, practice is hard but fun, and Erwin is a good coach. Levi's a good captain, too. I'm sorry you got injured Petra, I wish that you could be on the team, even if I wouldn't be on it," Fyllie said.

Petra giggled a bit and shrugged. "That's great you're enjoying it, I'm really glad. And it's okay, sweetie, I'm happy that someone like you has my position. I really am."

"That's so sweet," Fyllie said, grinning.

"Awww, thanks, Fyllie," Petra replied. "Levi talks about you a lot. You're a really strong link in the team."

"He does? Wait he thinks that? What does he say?" Fyllie asked. She knew she sounded a bit obsessive, but she was one of those people that wanted to know what certain others said or thought about her since she was self conscious and desired approval from many people.

"He just says you're really skilled. He says that you're strong and tough, and paintballing comes so natural to you. He said that if you were at tryouts, you would have been one of the top two recruits for sure." Petra said sincerely.

Fyllie couldn't help but feel relieved, but more than that, _hot_. Her cheeks warmed up and she found herself shyly looking down trying to hide it.

"Wow," Fyllie said. "I wouldn't think that's what he'd think."

"He is a rough Captain, and he's a tough guy. But he does think that. And he told me he's ashamed for what happened two weeks ago." Petra said.

Fyllie bit her lip. So Petra knew about that. She wondered what parts Levi told her and what parts he might've left out. She wondered if Petra knew about what Fyllie said about her.

"Yeah, well that was my fault," Fyllie said. "I'm really useless without my glasses, and I was having really bad anxiety, so Levi's fine, it's just that I'm a mess," Fyllie said nervously, sadly smiling in embarrassment and humbleness.

"Awww, cut yourself a little slack, Fyllie. Levi does have a temper sometimes. But he's human. And he knows you're just human too." Petra reassured.

"Thanks, Petra," Fyllie said, smiling warmly.

"Go easy on him; he plans to going easy on you, too. Levi thinks highly of you, and despite first not wanting you on the team, that really changed. He's glad that you're his new partner. And believe me when I say this, he's sorry. He's ashamed, and not because of anything Erwin said," Petra said reassuringly, smiling.

"Er, I think he's just saying things, that can't be all true. I heard him on the first day of practice before and he was pretty pissed I was on the team," Fyllie said nervously. "He may like my skill but he doesn't like me."

"Fyllie, I think he _does_ likes you," Petra said.

Fyllie almost choked, managing to bite her lip before she started coughing. She couldn't help but want to laugh, and she just awkwardly grinned, blushing a bit, slowly shaking her head no.

Petra giggled a bit and nodded her head yes. "It's true! I really do think that! It's the way he talks about you! I swear!"

"No no no, he does not like me. Not in any universe, not in any way." Fyllie said. "If anything he likes _you_ , Petra. And why wouldn't he? You're so beautiful and kind and wonderful, I can tell it already."

"Awww, thanks Fyllie, but I really do believe that Levi could like you. He appreciates you as a player, as a member of the team, but he also likes your personality." Petra said.

"How? We haven't talked since two weeks ago until now, how could he know my personality?" Fyllie asked.

"He talks about how you interact with the other team members. And he talks with Hanji. Hanji is the best observer of the team, and he always talks about you in a different way than he does with everyone else. Fyllie, even if he doesn't like you, you have to believe he wants to have your back, and he wants to be friends." Petra said.

"What's his definition of _friends_?" Fyllie asked.

"I guess you'll have to ask him," Petra smiled.

Before Fyllie could ask more questions, Levi came in carrying a tray with a cute little tea set on it. He poured three cups of tea into the cups, and handed one to Petra, and one to Fyllie.

"Thanks, Levi," Petra said smiling, as she took a sip.

"Thanks, Captain," Fyllie said, smelling it first. She hadn't ever really had a lot of hot tea before, but this stuff smelled good. She took a sip, and was fairly impressed. "Wow this stuff is really good, what kind is it?" She asked.

Levi ever so slightly smiled. "I make my own, do you drink tea often?"

"No, I haven't had hot tea in a long time," Fyllie said, taking another sip.

"That's a shame," Levi said, taking a sip from his, holding his cup around the rim instead of using the handle for some reason.

"So, what are you guys' game plan for tomorrow?" Petra asked.

Fyllie looked up at Levi, who looked at her as well. Fyllie looked away, and down at her tea.

"We haven't discussed one, yet." Levi answered.

"It's Levi's choice," Fyllie said. "He's the captain."

"But you guys are _partners_ ," Petra smiled.

"I suppose we can do what we do in practice," Levi suggested.

"With a bit more communication," Fyllie added.

"Yeah we've talked about this team's style. We've practiced for it." Levi said. He looked slightly away and hesitated. "But Fyllie and I haven't talked about our personal plan."

"Well, they're hiders, right?" Fyllie said. "They want to lure us in and then jump out and attack. So, we basically just, maybe do what we do but slower?"

"Well, I suppose. Their arena is being set up like a maze. I propose we get on the top of the maze. The team we're facing are crouchers. They stay low to the ground. The walls are about 15 feet high, so no one can really get on top, and they definitely wouldn't be looking that high." Levi said.

"Should we tell the rest of the team that?" Fyllie asked.

"Some. Maybe. But for now, it'll be our plan. I've heard the other's plan, and they're decent working together. But frankly, some of them wouldn't be able to do that. Like Krista and Armin and such. Which means Ymir couldn't. Eren probably couldn't either. We haven't practiced in senarios like this, maybe jumping distances, but not like the top of a maze," Levi said.

"And if they could," Levi continued, "for instance Jean most likely could, he'd be too loud and obvious. We might be able to propose the position to Mikasa, but she might prefer to watch over Eren. However, if one of us gets out, the other one won't. If I get eliminated, you won't, Fyllie. But I don't know what goes on in Mikasa's brain for Eren."

"True," Fyllie said, feeling kind of honored Levi knew she was capable of running on top of the maze with him.

"But for partner rounds," Levi continued, "and the final rounds, we don't have a plan yet. It's my fault, we should have been discussing a lot before now."

"It's alright," Fyllie said, smiling weakly.

"Since we'll only be facing one team, there won't be a formal Free-For-All round, where one person from each team goes into a separate arena, but there will be two separate games. They're splitting up our team and the other team to go into two special courses. They're a surprise so we don't know what they are. The order is you and me, Krista and Ymir, Jean and Marco on one, and then Hanji and Armin, Mikasa and Eren, and Sasha and Connie in the other," Levi explained.

"The point system is in a grading scale at their arena. Kind of like school Grades. Whoever wins capture the flag gets an "A" and then deductions for mistakes and how many people got shot, etc... and the other team's grade is based on their performance strictly," Levi said.

"And then what's the scoring system for the two Free-For-All's?" Fyllie asked.

"More of the same," Levi shrugged. "They average out the "grades" in the end and that's who wins the match."

Fyllie thought a bit. She nodded in understanding, thinking about the team placings and everything. A part of it was stressful to think about, but it was Paintball. The thing she knew best.

"You know the reason why I didn't want you to run out the first day of practice is because it's not like some regular arena where you can dominate people who only play every few months. There are people on some teams that are better than me, better than us. But I see that we're fine now, Fyllie," Levi said. "I'll cover you."

Fyllie looked at Levi and smiled. "Okay," she said.

Petra grinned in the background. "Awww look at you to cuties getting along," she giggled.

Levi raised an eyebrow at her and rolled his eyes. Fyllie smiled and blushed a bit, looking away.

"Fyllie?" Levi asked.

"Yes, Captain?" She replied.

"Come to the arena with me, I want to practice something with you." He said.

"Okay," Fyllie said, smiling.

* * *

Fyllie ran around the corner, up the side of the wall of the maze with all her speed, then jumped directly down on Levi. Levi's hands met her feet as she jumped, and shoved her up high enough to grab the edge of the wall, and silently pull herself up. Just like they practiced yesterday after they left Petra's house. Levi tossed Fyllie their paintball guns, and then swiftly jumped from behind two walls to get on top of the maze as well. Fyllie gave him his gun, and they nodded at each other before quietly walking more inwards, looking down for the other team.

Fyllie glanced up at those who were watching them, their spectators, and both coaches of the teams'. Erwin looked down approvingly at them, and the other coach glared. The players on the ground would not be able to see their coaches. The freckled girl looked at Levi.

 _You run, I'll shoot_ , he seemed to say with his look.

Fyllie then leapt from on top of the wall to another wall about seven feet across, and then another, nimbly making her way over the maze. Levi followed her, and soon enough, Levi started shooting.

"They're on top of the walls!" The other team started to yell.

"Go!" Levi shouted, as he shot off one by one, advancing, dodging paint balls coming at him.

It meant Fyllie didn't have to be silent anymore. She began sprinting across the maze walls, running as fast as she could, as gracefully as she could as well. Dodging was very difficult. All the shots were coming from underneath her; it wasn't like she would move sideways on the walls, she had to move forward. She trusted Levi to cover her, and he did. She managed to get a couple shots out, and when she located their flag, only three walls away, only 30 more feet, she jumped like she could make it.

Levi's fingers slipped in between hers, held on tightly, and then Fyllie felt her body being swung around, and then Levi let go, and she propelled through the air, just enough so she could grab the edge of the wall to lighten her fall. When her feet touched the ground, she grabbed the flag and the game was over. The horn rang, and Levi jumped down beside her.

Fyllie grinned and the announcement was made that the Scouts had won Capture the Flag.

Levi nodded approvingly at her, with a look on his face that felt like he was smiling at her. She couldn't help but grin, and didn't care about the uncontrollable blush on her cheeks.

Their Free-For-All was more of the same. With no flag to capture, running around eliminating their opponents was like second nature, and with the other Scout teammates, the win was easy.

The other Free-For-All was won as well, mainly lead by Mikasa.

The Scouts won the overall match, and they celebrated after Coach Erwin, Levi and Hanji spoke to them about how they'd done and what they did good and what they did bad, and considering after only two weeks of practice how good they were. They were aware there were much tougher teams ahead, but today they had won.

The bus ride home was nice; they talked a bit, told jokes and messed around for a while and then for the rest of trip they all fell asleep listening to music or leaning on each other. Levi and Hanji were sitting near the front talking with Erwin, and Fyllie was sitting with Armin.

They arrived back at their arena and put their gear back on the racks, put whatever they wanted in their lockers, and then were dismissed.

Fyllie left the arena, followed by the other members. She pulled out her phone and rolled her eyes as they laughed and joked.

"Are you going to the party tonight?" Sasha asked Fyllie excitedly.

Jean nodded as well. "Yeah Fyllie, you should come with us! We can dance together if you want-"

"Jean don't you understand, she's infinitely out of your league." Eren chuckled.

"What party?" Fyllie asked. "Oh the one at Hanji's apartment," she remembered. Hanji lived in a split apartment like Petra, and they both sides were hosting one big party. They had been talking about it in the group chat, just not around Erwin, in case he didn't want them to go. Knowing Erwin he probably did know they were going, but they low-keyed it during paintball practice and such.

"Yeah, Hanji wants us to come Fyllie," Ymir said.

"Well actually, I do have a lot of studying for," Fyllie said truthfully. Parties also were just never her thing. High school parties weren't either. There was this underlying thing that if you didn't drink or do drugs you weren't "cool", and Fyllie thought this was bullshit. Fyllie actually didn't have many friends to go to parties with in the first place because she was always paintballing in her free time. She had been to parties her freshman year at her other university, but it was really just people trying to bang the cutest girl/guy, getting so drunk that everyone looks cute, and then banging someone. The music was good, though.

"Oh c'mon," Sasha said, skipping around holding hands with Connie, who was zoned out in his own little world of course. "It'll be fun! You'll have us!"

"You guys will be wasted, that's not my thing," Fyllie giggled.

"I won't," Mikasa said. "I'll be watching over Eren."

Eren flushed red. "Shut up! I don't need watched over! I'm _nineteen_!"

"Maybe. I'm not sure. It all depends on what you guys bombard the group chat with," Fyllie answered, smiling.

"Oh, we'll be convincing you! We're gonna get your ass to that party no matter what it takes!" Sasha wrapped her arms around Fyllie's shoulders from behind.

Fyllie couldn't help but grin and roll her eyes. "It'll take a hella lot, I actually do have something to study for," she said, walking wobbly from the odd position she was with Sasha.

"Like what?" Eren asked.

"Science-"

"Oh that shit doesn't matter!" Jean exclaimed. "Come party!"

"Yeah Science is useless!" Connie chimed. "I failed that!"

"Don't let Hanji hear that. You'll be doing clean up for the rest of the season," Ymir said.

"How'd you fail already? It's we've been in school for like, 3 weeks," Fyllie said.

"Oh, then I don't know." Connie shrugged.

"Okay well anyways, c'mon think about it," Sasha said. "Pleeease? To celebrate our win for today! I'll help you with homework later, and it'll all be a good time!"

Fyllie giggled and rolled her eyes. " _Maybe_ ".

"Fyllie." Someone said behind them.

"Go on, I'll catch up later," Fyllie smiled as she turned around to face her Captain. "What's up?" She asked, walking over towards him. She smiled at him, and he raised his eyebrows and kind of smiled back.

"You did mildly impressive, today," he started, making Fyllie laugh out loud.

" _Mildly impressive_?" She asked.

"Fine. _Good_." He said.

"Okay well, thank you I suppose," Fyllie said. "And you did mildly impressive as well."

"Thanks." Levi said. "So are you going to that party at Hanji's?"

"I don't know," Fyllie answered, rocking on the heels of her feet.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because parties aren't my thing," she replied.

"Mine either. Just a bunch of crazy douchebags listening to stupid music and thinking they're on top of the world," Levi said.

"Well, it is fun to be young and wild," Fyllie said.

"I suppose so," Levi said. "You should come with me."

Fyllie was surprised by that. "How come?" She asked.

"Well, you know that thing I was talking about? About the Titans?" Levi asked.

"Yeah I remember," Fyllie said.

"They're here. On our campus." Levi said with an annoyed look on his face.

"They are? The whole team?" Fyllie asked.

"No. Three of them. The new recruits. An they'll be at the party. I've been watching them whenever I can-"

"Stalker alert," Fyllie joked, interrupting Levi.

"Shut up," Levi said, making Fyllie laugh. "Anyways, they've been stalking _us_ around our paintball arena, around _me_ , around other members as well. I've seen them. They hang out around after class in the campus buildings and try to confirm who's on the team. You guys' pictures aren't on our website yet, so they're not sure. And there's something they probably want from Hanji."

"That's creepy as hell," Fyllie said. "What do they want?"

"Hanji was talking to one of her friends about the paintball team last week. She was explaining to her how she keeps the team together. As a captain, or, someone older you know, she takes notes of the team; she's like everyone's manager. She keeps all that shit in a notebook, to have it organized. It has all your application forms, and she takes note on where all your dorms are incase she needs to find you. It has how you interact with the team and everything and of course your stats and such. It has everything there. And then she reports back to Erwin with any concerns or stuff that stands out as either bad or good," Levi explained.

"Wait do _you_ have a notebook?" Fyllie asked. "What does Hanji write about me? Have you read it?"

Levi was taken aback by her sudden questions, that were quite irrelevant. "Er, I don't have a physical notebook, no. And-"

"Where do you keep your notes, then?"

"Er, in my phone and in my head. Plus, I take care of your performances in paintballing only, and if I have any big concerns, Hanji might have an answer in her observations." Levi replied.

"Okay answer my other two questions," the freckled girl said.

"Tsk. I don't know, a bunch of shit. And yeah I've skimmed through it when she's shoving it in my face. But I don't know, why don't you ask her instead?" Levi said.

"Because it would be weird if I was the one who asked," Fyllie answered.

"Well, okay but you're missing the point. One of the Titans overheard Hanji talking; it's easy for them to find out she's having a party, and they'll be there tonight." Levi said.

"Okay so why do you need me?" Fyllie asked.

Levi hesitated. "Tsk, doesn't matter. I'll pick you up at 8:30." He started to turn away back to his car.

"Wait! What should I wear?" Fyllie asked, because she honestly had no idea.

"I don't know? Ask Sasha," Levi answered as he got in his car. Fyllie thought it was adorable that she noticed Levi's ears got a little bit red when she asked.

* * *

"Fyllie you better be ready," Levi said as he knocked on her dorm room door.

"I'm fine, thanks, how are you?" She said sarcastically.

Levi sighed. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks!" Fyllie replied.

Levi rolled his eyes. "Hurry up," he said.

"Patient much?" Fyllie asked, as she opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her.

Hot damn. Levi looked good. He was wearing dark blue fitted jeans, and a long-sleeved black v-neck shirt that was ever so slightly baggy, showing his collar bone and the top of his chest. His facial appearance wasn't any different, but seeing him in things other than gym wear and paintball gear was weird. Maybe he had something casual on when he took her to get her glasses, but she wouldn't have been able to see it.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Levi said.

Fyllie was wearing a fancy white short sleeved shirt and black leggings with bright orange shorts over top. Her hair was pulled up in a cute-messy bun, she wore her glasses, and on her feet were her neon orange and green high tops.

She noticed Levi look at her for a split second, then look away. "C'mon let's go, they're already there."

"Well doesn't Hanji know by now?" Fyllie asked as she walked beside Levi, moving at a quick pace.

"I still haven't told her." Levi answered.

"Why?" Fyllie asked.

"Because she'd think I'm overthinking or something. She might believe that Titans are on campus, but she wouldn't believe my gut," Levi replied.

"Why not, it's rock solid," Fyllie joked, referring to his hard ass six pack.

"Ha Ha very funny," Levi rolled his eyes.

* * *

"What are we doing in here?" Fyllie asked, as Levi shut the door. They were in Hanji's room. The place was generally clean, but there was just so much stuff that it didn't look tidy. The walls you couldn't even see, there were posters and bulletin boards and calendars and bookshelves, and her desk, or _desks_ , were covered in papers.

"Obviously to have sex, Fyllie," Levi answered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Jesus Christ, Levi." The freckled girl said, turning beat red.

"Tsk." Levi went over to Hanji's desk and started looking for something, digging through all the books and such. "Jesus, Hanji. How many biology classes are you taking?" He said, shoving all the books off the table.

"Don't just push all her shit around, Levi," Fyllie said, stacking he books that'd fallen on Levi's accord in a neat pile.

"You're the one that just called her stuff shit," Levi smirked, continuing to dig through her papers.

"Gah, are you sure it's here?" Fyllie asked.

"Yes," Levi said.

"Levi I'm pretty sure no one would take it. It's just too far fetched. Let's just leave, it doesn't matter," Fyllie said. It _did_ seem a little far fetched. What people would steal a team's information like that? Even if they wanted to cheat somehow it was weird. Besides, a team's fighting style can be countered if that's what the Titans would try to do, but when it comes down to it, it's really just a matter of skill.

"No, we need it." Levi answered.

"Why?" Fyllie asked.

"Because I'm emotionally attached. How much of the team is here?" Levi asked before Fyllie could comment on his sarcastic-ness.

"I'm pretty sure all of us-" before Fyllie could finish, Levi shushed her and swiftly pulled her into Hanji's closet, so fast Fyllie had no idea what was happening until she felt all kinds of clothes hanging in her face, surrounding her legs and under her feet.

"Someone's coming," Levi's voice came from right behind her ear, and she suddenly became aware of her back and shoulder being pressed tightly against his rock solid stomach and chest. His arms were wrapped tightly around her torso, and she knew that if he let go, she would fall forward. The clothes piled up more towards the back of the closet; it was like she was standing on a shifty slope.

Fyllie's face became hot and her heart was beating out of her chest. Levi's breath brushed across her ear, giving her goosebumps. She shifted ever so slightly and felt his sharp hipbones press against her lower back.

Before she could have a panic attack about being so close to Levi, three people entered Hanji's room. She looked hard through the louvered doors, trying to catch their faces. Two tall boys and short girl.

They went straight to Hanji's desk and dug around for a minute or so. The girl picked up the notebook. Fyllie felt Levi's arms squeeze her tighter.

"Got it," the girl said.

"Shit," Levi whispered under his breath.

And then they were gone.

"Was that...?" Fyllie whispered, not knowing if it was safe for them to get out of the closet.

"Yeah. Bertolt, Reiner and Annie Leonhart. The new recruits for the Utgard's Titans." Levi said.

He opened the closest door with one arm, still holding onto Fyllie with the other and it swung open slowly. Fyllie then stepped out and sighed, sitting on Hanji's bed.

"Well this blows," she said.

"Yeah." Levi said. "Get up, let's follow them."

Fyllie stood up and followed Levi out the door.

"Why didn't you just beat them up?" Fyllie asked as they pushed their way through the crowd.

"Because this isn't a spy movie, even if I did beat them up they could easily report to authorities that I did. I could get expelled for that. I don't have some magic shit to make them forget everything," Levi answered.

"True," Fyllie said.

They continued to push their way through the party until they spotted the three Titans standing around talking to some people, the girl holding the notebook.

"Can we get it back?" Fyllie asked.

"Not without causing a scene." Levi answered.

"What about telling Hanji?" Fyllie asked.

"Probably would take too much time. And she's wasted right now." Levi replied.

"What should we do, now?" Fyllie asked.

"Just leave. Hanji will find out it's gone tomrrow and report to Erwin. Maybe I'll be able to tell them it was the Titans." Levi sighed.

"What about taking a picture?" Fyllie asked. "Of then with the notebook?"

"Hanji would kill me if she knew I knew they had her notebook and didn't do anything about it, even though she would never believe me. Besides, like I said we can't get it without causing a scene. That girl, Annie, she's a world class kickboxer." Levi said.

"She is? Holy shit," Fyllie said in disbelief.

"Yeah, she is. Not that I couldn't beat her in a fight, but she'd cause a shit ton of trouble." Levi replied. "Ready to go home?"

"I mean I don't want to leave my friends," Fyllie answered. The whole team was there, and she was able to see most of them before Levi had dragged her up to Hanji's room.

"True. Well, I'm going to go, are you good to get a ride home? Will you be safe? Will you drink or anything?" Levi asked.

"No, I'm okay," Fyllie smiled.

"Alright. Well, watch out for those brats," Levi said. "Thanks for coming tonight."

"You're welcome Levi, and you never answered me when I asked why you need me," Fyllie said.

Levi paused. "Because you're my partner," he answered before walking away.

Fyllie smiled and blushed, and then turned to go find some of her friends. She looked over at the Titans, who were reading the notebook together. She slowly walked by, hiding behind a few passing people so she could kind of hear what they were saying. Her eyes focused in and they were on _her_ page. With her picture and everything. Her heart started racing, and she was just stepping away when she heard the tall blond one, Reiner, say something.

" _That's the chick who's glasses I broke_."

* * *

Excerpt from the next chapter:

 _"No one hears about this. No one. Not your coach, captain or friends. If you so much as think about telling someone, you're dead. Understood?" The girl, Annie said to her menacingly. Her words stung more than anything Levi had said. Maybe it was because she was a girl? Maybe because this was a real threat._ This was a real threat _. Fyllie nodded slowly._

 _"Understood?" Annie said loudly at her, swiftly drilling her knee into Fyllie's stomach._

 _Fyllie shouted in pain and doubled over. She bit her lip harder, blood still dripping from her mouth, and she held her stomach. She felt like throwing up._

 _She nodded again, and then felt the bottom of a shoe on her shoulder, kicking it down with such force she heard a crack. Dislocation._

 _She bit her lip as tears stung her eyes and she now clenched the side of her arm as tightly as she could, shaking._

 _"I get it," she managed through her teeth, grimacing in pain, blood dripping off her lip still._

 _"Good. Well, see you around," Annie said._

 _The three walked away from Fyllie, who now sat down against the wall, head leaned back and eyes closed, spitting out a bit more blood. Then they got in a car, and drove away._

* * *

Next Chapter hopefully by the end of April! Thanks for reading!


	5. Titans in Trost

**_Welcome to the fifth chapter of my first fanfic!_**

 **NOTICE** :

-the character **Fyllie** (pronunciation: "FILL-ee") June belongs to me.

-the rest of the characters with identified names belong to the anime and manga series **Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin**. " _Trost Univeristy_ ", " _the Scouts_ ", " _The University of Utgard_ ", " _the Titans_ ", while of course are referenced from the series, are **fanmade** (by me) colleges and teams, and the idea belongs to me, and are **not** a part of the Attack on Titan's existing story.

-" **Paint Wars** ", while exists as the well known electronic music festivals, is the name of the College Paintball Sport Association in the fanfic.

- **Slight Language Warning** ; wouldn't be Attack on Titan without it.

- **How are you enjoying the story so far**? Is it original enough? Is Fyllie a likable main character? Is there any particular scene you'd want to see, or more of a specific thing you want more of? Please tell me; I love feedback!

- **Please leave a review**! It means a lot! Thank you!

* * *

 **Fyllie froze. _He broke my glasses. He did that on purpose, didn't he_**. She just stood, staring at them. _They might do something like that again, to me, to the team. I can't believe it_.

Fyllie felt sick. She wanted to leave. She didn't feel safe. She quickly pushed through some people to get outside, where she hoped Levi would just be starting his car.

She opened the front door and quickly started down the steps from the porch, when she felt a cold hand on her shoulder, with a hold like iron. She stopped in her tracks.

She slowly turned her head. It was them. The Titans. The blond boy was the one who had her in his grip.

"Let me take care of this," the girl said, grabbing Fyllie's arm as Reiner let go. The blonde girl with a noticeably downward-curved nose and a glare like death dragged Fyllie off the porch and to the side of the house where it was fairly dark, since the moon was on the other side. The only light was what was coming from the windows, ten feet up.

"What the hell are you-" Fyllie was cut off by a strong, painful blow to her jaw, rattling her teeth and busting her lip. Her mouth filled with blood; that coppery, sour taste. She stumbled back and her back met the wall of the side of the apartment.

The girl, Annie, shook off her hand and stepped in front of Fyllie. "What do you know about us?" She asked, in a calm but... _mean_ voice. Fyllie couldn't describe it. It just sounded _cold_.

"You're the new recruits," Fyllie started, pausing to spit out blood. The pain was overwhelming, Fyllie felt like her face was on fire, and that any second it would just rot away. Annie's fist felt like a rock. "For Utgard. You'll stole Hanji's notebook," the freckled girl looked down and let blood drip from her mouth.

"Correct. And who else knows?" Annie asked, pulling Fyllie's chin up a bit so Fyllie was looking at her in the face.

A new wave of pain rushed around where Annie was holding her, and Fyllie squeezed her eyes shut to not shout. She didn't know what to say; should she tell them that it was Levi? No, she wouldn't take the risk.

"Just me," Fyllie said, turning her head to spit out more blood.

"Bullshit." Annie pushed Fyllie up back against the wall and grabbed the side of her face to look up at her again, right where she'd punched her jaw. Fyllie winced and bit back a shout again and felt tears sting her eyes.

"It's only me, I swear," Fyllie managed, still processing what was happening. _I'm bleeding. This girl is crazy... It hurts..._ "I saw you had the notebook, and I've read about you in an article. I saw your pictures, what are you doing in Trost-"

Annie wrapped her fingers tightly around her jaw again, making Fyllie quit talking, and a fresh wave of blood surged from inside her mouth. She bit her lip in a panicking way, and tried to take a deep breath with her nose to calm herself down. Blood seeped from inbetween her lips, and her face felt so hot it was cold, pulsing, giving her a headache.

"No one hears about this. No one. Not your coach, captain or friends. If you so much as think about telling someone, you're dead. Understood?" Annie said to her menacingly. Her words stung more than anything Levi had said. Maybe because this was a real threat. _This is a real threat_. Fyllie nodded slowly.

"Understood?" Annie said loudly at her, letting go of her jaw and swiftly drilling her knee into Fyllie's stomach.

Fyllie shouted in pain and doubled over. She bit her lip harder, blood still flowing from her mouth, and she held her stomach. She felt like throwing up.

She nodded again, and then felt the bottom of a shoe on her shoulder, kicking it down with such force she heard a pop. Dislocation.

She bit her lip even harder as more tears threatened to fall and she now clenched the side of her arm as tightly as she could, shaking. Now her shoulder was on fire. She wasn't surprised that Annie's kick felt like a metal baseball bat, with ten times the power and force, that applied ten times more pain.

"I get it," she managed through her teeth, grimacing in pain, spitting out even more blood.

"Good. Well, see you around," Annie said.

The three walked away from Fyllie, who now sat down against the wall, head leaned back and eyes closed, spitting out more blood. Then they got in a car, and drove away.

Fyllie pulled out her phone and called the one person she new wasn't wasted. She didn't want to bother him, but she didn't have a choice. She needed someone to help her. She didn't want to call an ambulance and attract people to the party; she didn't want any police getting involved. She just needed someone to take her home. And pop her shoulder back in.

She bit back tears and took a deep breath. She was scared. Too scared and in shock to be panicking. She couldn't even process what happened to her. Did this count as being jumped? Or just, beat up? They didn't take anything from her. They, or, _Annie_ just kicked the _shit_ out of her.

"Fyllie?" Levi asked on the other side of the phone. "What's up?"

"Come get me, please, please," Fyllie's voice sounded like she wanted to cry, and she wanted to. Everything hurt so bad; she felt like she would throw up, but she felt like she was always crying around Levi.

"What's wrong? Where are you?" Levi asked in an urgent tone. "I'm getting in my car now."

"I'm by Hanji's house, I'm just outside, I... Someone just... attacked me, I don't know-"

" _Attacked_ you? How?" Levi asked.

Fyllie just shook her head and spit out more blood. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to tell Levi it was the Titans. She felt like she had to. But what if they were serious? What if they'd kill her? Probably a bit far fetched but after what happened she was completely sure that girl really _could_ have killed her. She couldn't risk it.

"Just, some guy. He was black out drunk, he was crazy, he just kicked me. He just hit me; my, I think my shoulder's put of place," she said, sniffing.

"Holy shit, Fyllie. Okay I'm on my way, I'll be there in a couple minutes. Are you alone?" Levi said, and Fyllie heard in the background of his phone he was definitely in a car.

"Yeah, but, it's okay... he left..." Fyllie said, spitting out a bit more blood.

"Okay, I'm a few blocks away. I'm coming," Levi said. "Do you know who the guy was? Could you recognize him at all?"

"N-no, I couldn't," Fyllie said, a tear sliding down her cheek. She wiped it away, and tried to use her shirt to wipe the blood off around her mouth, but it was useless. She had blood on her arm, shoulder and hands. It was on the tops of her shoes and all the way down her white shirt. Well, it used to be white.

Soon enough, about a minute later, Levi pulled up right beside her. The door opened and Levi rushed out. His headlights were facing her, so he could see everything.

"Holy shit, Fyllie. What the hell happened?" He said, shoving his phone into his pocket, and taking his shirt off, wiping the blood off her shoes and arm and mouth. He ripped off a part of his shirt and gave it for her to hold onto her mouth.

Fyllie felt a wave of relief wash over her. She was in too much shock and pain to awe at his flawless body, and just closed her eyes. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and arm, and before she object, she heard a snap and felt a stabbing pain.

"What the hell?!" She shouted, before bringing the part of his shirt back to her bleeding mouth. The pain was actually short lasting, and it lowered to a steady pulsing ache after it was back in place.

"Popped your shoulder back in," Levi said quickly. He sighed and bunched his shirt up on her lap, lifted her up, and carried her to his car.

* * *

Fyllie woke up and winced in pain. She opened her eyes and then closed them again, sighing. Her jaw was hot and still throbbed. Her stomach was just a bit sore. Her shoulder pulsed, like a heart.

"How are you?" Levi asked.

Fyllie opened her eyes to see Levi sitting in a chair across from her. He was sipping a cup of tea and reading the newspaper. She closed her eyes again, and realized she was at his house. She had spent the night at his apartment. She was wearing one of his tea shirts and a pair of his sweatpants. Fyllie was too tired to feel worked up. She went limp and sunk back into the couch.

"I'm alright," she said quietly. "My teeth, my jaw still hurts like hell, though..."

"I bet," Levi sighed. "I don't know what you should eat or drink. You probably shouldn't eat anything yet, and I don't think hot tea would feel good, or if it would start the bleeding again. But other than food is there anything I need to get you?"

"No, it's okay," Fyllie answered. She slowly sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. She wanted to tell Levi so bad. Maybe she could. It's not like the Titans were listening to their conversations. Besides, Levi would believe her, and he wouldn't tell anyone; she didn't think. But if he knew, wouldn't he be obligated to tell everyone else? They didn't threaten him. And to not tell them would be like putting everyone in danger.

 _Putting everyone in danger_. The sentence sounded so dramatic and crazy. But it was true. She remembered Annie hurting her, and she bet she could do that to everyone else, except Levi and probably Mikasa. And if not, Reiner and Bertolt. If the three got one alone, they wouldn't stand a chance.

Fyllie went livid. _Our schedules are in there. In that notebook. Our classes. Our routines_. They were in there to keep track of how healthy the team was living, but the Titans could use it as a way to track everyone down. She had to tell Levi.

Just before she did, she stopped. But that would put Levi in danger, right? Besides if he did anything extreme he'd get expelled, or kicked off the team at least. She couldn't do that. But how was she supposed to warn everyone else? She _couldn't_. Annie would know. The freckled girl felt as if Annie would know these things.

Fyllie just sighed and rested her forehead on her knees.

"Are you sure?" Levi asked.

"I'm sure," Fyllie answered.

Levi sighed and was silent for a moment.

"Are you sure you can't remember anything about that guy? Are you positive? What his hair color was, how tall he was, how he was built? Voice, eyecolour, what he was wearing? Pictures are on Instagram of the party, maybe if I showed you some you could identify him-"

"Reiner broke my glasses." Fyllie interrupted. She couldn't have Levi badgering on about the fake person who attacked her. She hated having to lie. The freckled girl decided that just knowing Bertolt broke her glasses that day, wouldn't relate to how it was them who beat her up.

Levi put down his tea. "What? Are you serious?" He got up and walked over towards Fyllie, sitting on the other end of the couch.

Fyllie sighed and nodded. She looked down and closes her eyes.

"How do you know?" Levi asked.

"After you left I was watching them with the notebook. They were looking at my page while they were skimming through. I was starting to walk away, but the blond boy said that I was the chick who's glasses he broke. Then-" Fyllie stopped herself quickly. She looked down and sighed. She couldn't tell Levi.

"That little shit." Levi said, obviously angry. "Then what?"

"What do you mean?" Fyllie asked.

"You started to say something else and then stopped. What else?" He said, leaning closer.

"Nothing. There's nothing more. I was just being stupid," Fyllie said.

Levi raised an eyebrow at her. He had a feeling she was lying, but didn't want to interrogate her or give her a headache. She had a rough night. But it just didn't really make sense to him.

Someone drunk enough to attack someone with the amount of damage Fyllie had must have been black-out drunk, that much was true. Unless it was someone who wanted to hurt another. But if he were black-out drunk and wouldn't remember anything the next day, then he couldn't have been faster Fyllie. It wasn't possible. Levi knew Fyllie as one of the most nimble people he'd ever met. Why couldn't she have avoided him?

Levi sighed and couldn't help but ask more.

"How'd that guy knock your shoulder out of place?" He asked.

Fyllie just shook her head, "I dont know, he... kicked it, I guess," she answered.

"You _guess_?" Levi raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he kicked my shoulder." Fyllie said.

"Were you ever laying on the ground?" Levi asked.

"No, I wasn't. Can we not talk about this? I'm getting a headache, Levi," Fyllie said truthfully.

Levi sighed and got off the couch. "Okay. When do you want dropped off?" He asked.

Fyllie closed her eyes. "I'm just gonna call Sasha or someone to get me-"

"They don't have cars. And they're all hungover." Levi interrupted.

Fyllie thought for a second. She didn't want to be alone. She didn't feel safe. Not after what happened last night. But she didn't want to burden Levi like this. And if she went to someone else's house, she just realized that she would have to explain why her face was black and blue.

"Er... I can go now," the freckled girl said. "Will you please take me back to my dorm?"

"Sure." Levi replied. "Are you you're okay being alone?"

Fyllie hesitated. "Yeah, I guess..."

* * *

"It just doesn't make sense," Levi said, pacing. "It doesn't make sense at all. It's just, why would she lie to me? What's she hiding? Her shoulder was dislocated, her jaw is absolute shit, she was obviously the victim. So who the hell beat her up that she couldn't tell me about? It wasn't some drunk guy. It couldn't have been. Fyllie's fast and light on her feet. She could dodge a bullet. And even if he _did_ catch her, there's _no_ way he could have dislocated her shoulder like that."

"Her shoulder was dislocated because it was struck _down_ with a shit ton of force," Levi continued. " _No_ _one_ can just punch someone with that much downward force, even if she was lying that this person kicked her. The only way someone could kick her shoulder in like that would be if she was laying down, and they kicked her shoulder like a football. But Fyllie told me that she was never laying on the ground."

"The only other explanation is if she was maybe bent over in some way, and he kicked her like," Levi demonstrated, raising his leg so that his kneecap was up to his shoulder. His leg was bent as he would have it if he were sitting in a ball. Then he slammed down his foot in slow motion.

"Not many people can kick like that. And not many people can kick like that with so much force as to dislocate someone's shoulder. So no _random drunk_ guy could have done that to her." Levi sighed and sat down, leaning back into a recliner chair, staring at ceiling.

"So why would she lie?" Levi asked out loud.

Petra sat on the couch across from Levi, broken leg propped on the table. She thought for a moment. "Maybe it's someone that's on the team?" Petra suggested. "And she doesn't want them to get in trouble?"

"No. They wouldn't do that. They love her, and she loves them. The only one who could do that is Mikasa, and she was watching Eren that night. Even if Fyllie threatened Eren, because you know that's all Mikasa seems to care about, she's too sophisticated to do anything like that. It wasn't any of the team members," Levi explained.

"Well, the Titans were there. That girl and those boys. They might have done it," Petra said. "Besides, the one named Reiner _did_ claim to break her glasses. And Fyllie's recognizable, with her yellow and orange hair and freckles."

Levi then got up and looked furious. Why hadn't he seen it before?

* * *

 _Annie Leonhart was a world class kick boxer_ , Fyllie thought.

"Oh my god... I'm so stupid," Fyllie said to herself aloud. "I'm so stupid," she buried her face in her hands in frustration.

"Why the _hell_ did I say I wasn't on the ground?! Why the _hell_ did I say that they kicked me?! Why would I say he was black out drunk, why would I say that?!" Fyllie had gotten up to yell at herself in the mirror. Her cheek on the one side was completely black and blue, her lip busted open and swollen.

Fyllie was in a mental haze this morning and last night after what happened. She was overwhelmed, confused and scared. She was still scared, but without her headache and after a few hours of listeng to soothing music, she had calmed down. But that's when she started thinking rationally. She realized all the mistakes she said earlier.

"No drunk guy could've beat me up like that! _Goddamn it_ , Fyllie!" She screamed at herself, bringing back her headache. She sat down on the floor and thought of all the other things she could have said. She was also thinking of everything Levi would say to her when he found out. Not _if_. _When_. Levi would know. He had to know.

And as if right on time, Fyllie's phone rang. But it wasn't Levi.

"Who is this," Fyllie asked when she answered her phone.

"Guess." _It was Annie_.

Fyllie's heart dropped. _Contact information was in that notebook_. "...What do you want," she said.

"How's your face? Your shoulder?" Annie asked in a tone dripping with apathy.

"Like you give a shit," Fyllie replied.

"You're right. Good, then we can skip small talk," Annie said. "What happened after we left?"

Fyllie hesitated. "I called a friend to pick me up."

"Who." Annie demanded calmly.

"I didn't tell anyone. But Captain Levi already knows." Fyllie answered. "I told him some drunk guy attacked me, when I was out of it. He knows that some drunk guy couldn't have done something like what you did."

"I thought you'd be smarter than that," Annie sighed.

"Well that really blows," Fyllie said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, just checking in. _I'm sorry your parents were in a car wreck_ ," Annie said grimly.

Fyllie's eyes widened, and she didn't know what to say. She felt... _weak_ , and powerless in this situation, which made her blood boil.

"What of it." The freckled girl said.

"I'm just saying, it's sad that they haven't woken up," Annie paused. " _And it would be a shame if anything else happened to them_ , after such a trauma." Annie drew out those words, and Fyllie could just picture the shape of the blonde girl's lips as she spoke. Annie knew she had the upper hand.

Fyllie didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Are you threatening my parents..." She asked quietly.

"I'm just saying it would a shame if something else happened to them, Fyllie. Anyways, I'll see you around," Annie said. Then she hung up.

Fyllie turned off her phone and sighed. _This has to be a dream_ , she thought.

Just then, her phone rang again. _Levi_.

Fyllie sighed. Should she deny that it was Annie? Or just tell the truth since he'd push until it came out? How could she explain to him that Annie threatened her _parents_ if she told anyone else? She continued to think even after the ring stopped, and then started again. She sighed and decided to shut her phone off and take a nap. She needed to escape the madness for a little while.

* * *

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

"Fyllie?? You there??" Levi's voice called, waking the freckled girl from her slumber.

Fyllie sat up and sighed, adjusting to what was happening around her. Levi was here knocking on her door. Because she didn't answer his calls. Now he was _here_.

Fyllie's eyes widened and she quickly jumped out of bed and pulled her hair up. She was still in Levi's clothes, and she hurriedly took them off and pulled a hoodie over her head and yanked some jeans on that were lying on the floor. She just pulled the waistband over her hip as she opened the door.

"Yeah, I'm here?" She said opening the door wider after she did the button on her pants. "What's wrong-"

"Why didn't you tell me it was Annie," Levi interrupted, walking towards Fyllie making her back up towards her bed.

"Er- I don't know what you me-"

"Bullshit. Fyllie, you can trust me, why couldn't you just tell me? I would have believed you, you know that." Levi firmly took hold of her shoulders and looked into her eyes, urgently but also pleadingly. Seeing her face all bruised and busted panged on Levi's chest inside, and he all he wanted to do was protect her.

"I-" Fyllie didn't know what to say. " _She threatened me, she threatened my parents_ , she-" Fyllie managed in a panicked whisper, as if Annie could have heard her.

Levi's eyes seemed to melt into a different expression. Fury, and simultaneously softness. He let go of her shoulders and took a deep breath. Fyllie bit her lip, and looked down. The reality of it all still shook her.

"Fyllie. What did she say?" Levi asked quietly, guiding her to sit down on the bed as he did so too.

"She _called_ me. Levi, everything is in that book. _Everything_. It's scary, they have everyone's phone number. They know everyone's schedules now. They know my parents are in a coma and she said- ... She said _it would be a shame if anything else happened to them_. If I told anyone. It- ... We can't tell anyone, Levi. She said if I told anyone I'd be _dead_ , Levi what if-"

"Fyllie that's not going to happen." Levi said. He looked down and Fyllie could practically see the thoughts racing through his head. It was silent for a long time inbetween them.

"I-," Fyllie hesitated. She sighed. "We should tell the team. I'd rather them be safe. It don't really matter in this-"

"What do you mean you don't matter in this?" Levi interrupted.

Fyllie shrugged. "I mean, team-wise, like the team is good without me and it's better everyone else is-"

"Fyllie you matter in this. Not because it was you who was threatened. Not because you're my partner. Because you're a Scout. Everyone in the team matters. Equally. ...Even Eren." Levi said sternly, looking into her eyes, although adding the Eren thing to lighten the mood.

Fyllie lightly smiled but looked away. "Well," she started, "we should tell the team. We can't risk them getting hurt. Reiner broke my glasses, he did that on purpose. They're trying to make our team shit so we can't compete come the rivalry game. And after that tournaments. And I doubt that..." Fyllie trailed off.

"You doubt what, Fyllie?" Levi asked.

"I doubt that they would do anything to my parents..." Fyllie said. "But... it's just..."

"Just what?" Levi pressed.

Fyllie sighed. "I never thought that someone would beat someone up like that. I know people get jumped, but it's different when... with Annie and me it's different. You know? I could never believe that she'd hurt my parents, but after what happened..."

"It doesn't seem so far fetched..." Levi finished for her.

"Yeah..." Fyllie bit her lip. She slid off the bed and grabbed her phone, sitting back on the bed. She turned it on and then went to the group text and twiddled her thumbs. "What... should I say?" She asked, looking at Levi.

"Well, maybe we shouldn't text it. Some of them could be hanging out right now, and if the Titans are stalking them, one of them might say out loud what you texted them and the then the Titans would know," Levi said.

"But aren't they probably all hungover?" Fyllie said.

"True. Then maybe we shouldn't say anything right now. We can wait," Levi answered. "At practice we could tell them."

"What if something happens before then?" Fyllie asked.

"We can just hope it won't. I don't want you walking around alone anymore, Fyllie." Levi said. "Or anyone for the matter."

"What about Erwin?" Fyllie asked.

"Not sure." Levi sighed. "I know how we make sure everyone sticks together, though. Next week is 'pairs week'."

"What do you mean?" Fyllie asked.

"The team we face next week is a clump team. Meaning they're always together and attack as one. They intermix partners and travel in a big mob. Pairs week means in practice we do all pairs training. We train to divide and conquer, or surround them." Levi explained.

"How do that help us outside of practice?" Fyllie asked.

Levi shrugged. "I can suggest to Hanji we do a 'Pair Challenge' where you have to be with your partner as much as possible next week. She has us all in GPS in our phones so she can tell anyway-"

"Wait she knows we're together right now?" Fyllie interrupted.

"When she's sober I would assume so," Levi said, taken aback. "Anyways, knowing Hanji she'll fully support it. She'll probably throw a dance or some shit. If the Titans get suspicious that we'll be sticking together more than usual, they'll undoubtedly overhear that we're having a pair's week. And to be completely honest, I don't think we should tell the team about the Titans. If the team knows, Erwin knows, and then..." Levi stopped.

"Then what...?" Fyllie asked.

"I'm just worried about you and your parents. And everyone. Pair's week can take care of everyone sticking together without causing suspicion, but I don't know what would happen if Erwin found out. I have a feeling the Titans would know if he knew. And then they might do something drastic. Even though they already have." Levi sighed and looked at Fyllie.

Fyllie bit her lip and started to say, "Levi, they won't hurt my parents or me, they-"

"They already have." Levi interrupted. "Pair's week protects the team for now, and no one knowing protects you for now. And that's the end of it."

Fyllie shook her head. "What if some of the pairs aren't strong enough? What about Sasha and Connie who probably haven't the slightest idea the Titans are here, what about Ymir and Krista? There are three Titans. And there'll be only two of us. They have to know, Levi. That have to, please tell them-"

"Fyllie it'll be fine." Levi interrupted again.

"You're the captain, shouldn't you be looking out for the whole team?" Fyllie asked.

"I'm doing as much as I can, Fyllie. I'll get the Pair Challenge thing going. And not telling them means I'm protecting you. And then after that, we'll play it by ear. Fyllie, let's just play this how we Paintball. Improvise. We never lose, okay?" Levi said, putting his hand on her shoulder firmly.

Fyllie pursed her lips and then looked at Levi, their eyes pulling each other, not letting them look away. Levi's cold steel grey eyes seemed to sparkle and Fyllie hoped her eyes did too when Levi looked at her. She couldn't help but glance at his hand, lying so close to hers resting on her bed. And his lips. She couldn't deny it. She liked Levi. She really did.

"Okay." She said. "Okay," she nodded and looked down. "I trust you."

"Good," Levi said. "It'll be okay, alright. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, or this team. I'm not going to let anything happen to this team. Alright?"

"Okay." Fyllie smiled.

"Are you sure?" Levi asked, the hint of a smile at the end of his lips, now taking on a joking tone.

Fyllie rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure," she replied, trying not to giggle. Levi's aura was demanding. Intimidating. Powerful. And right now all it was doing was making Fyllie want to laugh.

"I'm not totally sure you trust me, Fyllie," Levi said, smirking.

"Oh my god Levi stop, you're being so weird right now," Fyllie said, looking away trying to hide her grin.

"Stop what?" He asked, following her smile. "You're just being ridiculous."

"Levi, I- Stop. You're in a mood, and it's so weird, it's almost scary," Fyllie continued, giggling. Levi seemed child-like almost, playful, but unimaginably attractive still.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Fyllie," he smirked.

Fyllie got off the bed, and Levi got up as well. She took a step back and he followed her, almost as if he was copying her.

"Stop!" She giggled, picking up his clothes she had taken home with him and throwing them at him.

"Oh, you wanna go?" He said, catching his shirt, swiftly taking a step close to her, wrapping it around her eyes, holding the ends behind her head like a blindfold.

Fyllie squealed and held his wrists behind her, lightly pulling. "Levi! Get it off!" She giggled. "I'm serious!" Fyllie never knew what was happening with him. She couldn't take in how he was acting right now. What was he doing? Was he just messing with her? Letting off steam in some weird way? Was he... flirting with her? Her cheeks immediately flushed red at the thought, but it couldn't take her away from the fact that Levi had seemed to turn her in a new direction, making her walk out of the room.

"Shhh, you need to trust me," Levi said, closing the door behind them as they exited her dorm room and was her down the hallway somewhere.

"I do!" She said. She suddenly felt the absence of the floor beneath her bare feet and her weight shifted horizontally as she hung over Levi's shoulder, still unable to see.

"Sure you do," he said sarcastically, picking up his pace.

"Levi put me down!! Where are we going?!" Fyllie squealed, still blindfolded. She heard a door open, and then metal clanging, as if they were going up stairs. "Where are we??"

"You ask too many questions," Levi replied, continuing to carry her as if she was nothing.

Then, another door opened and Fyllie felt a gust of wind. Levi swung her off his shoulder but carried her a bit more until he set her bare feet down to meet cold concrete. He held her wrist in one hand and then swiftly pulled his shirt off from her face so she could see.

And there was Trost University. Over one hundred feet up in the sky Fyllie looked out at her campus, her toes just over the edge on the ledge of the roof of the building. One more step and she would fall, but she was sure she would fly instead. She didn't know that there was a way to get onto the roof in the first place, and right now it didn't matter. She felt Levi's secure grip on her wrist and looked at him, a slight smile on his face, and a grin on hers.

Wind whipped across her face, and she looked out onto campus again, leaning out, reaching as far as she could. Levi held her wrist keeping her from falling, and it took her a few seconds to realize that if he let go she _would_ fall. But she trusted him. And she trusted him with everything else. He wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"Levi?" Fyllie turned around. She had to shout, her voice competing with the wind.

"Yeah?" He called back.

"I like you!" She yelled. She then grabbed his wrist as well, so they were both holding onto each other, and she pulled him up onto the ledge with her.

"What??" He yelled back, as he grabbed her other wrist pulling her closer.

"Nothing! I-... I trust you," Fyllie said back, smiling. She bit her lip, and blushed a bit.

Levi smiled. A genuine, content smile. "Good." He replied.

* * *

Excerpt from the next chapter:

 _Fyllie's legs were moving at the perfect pace, totally in sync. She closed her eyes and knew that Levi was in sync with her. They were going the exact same speed, on either side of the mob. They were right. The team had major blind spots on the far sides. No one could stop them. It would be a total paint bath in the center of the battle, but Fyllie and Levi wouldn't see another player until the next match._

 _This win was theirs._

Slam.

 _Fyllie saw her world shift sideways as she now lay on the ground, paintgun 10 feet away from her. She felt her ankle being shot with a paintball, the harsh sting of paint splattering her calf. But she was more concerned about her head. She clumsily took off her goggles and felt around her hairline. Blood._

What the hell hapened?

 _"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Fyllie," a voice said in a panicking tone. "Please,_ please _say you tripped. Please, please, I'm begging you, I'm so sorry," the voice continued desperately._

 _Fyllie couldn't even process what happened. Did someone hit her in the head with their paintball gun?_

 _She felt a pair of hands under her arms, lifting her up so her back was against a wall. She felt a cloth being pressed against her head, and she opened her eyes to see a scared-looking girl tending to her. Her vision was a bit blurry, and her head throbbed. It was on fire. But Fyllie felt mentally used to it._

 _"What the hell happened?" Fyllie managed, closing her eyes again._

 _"I hit you, I hit you in the head with my gun, I'm so sorry, Fyllie. You don't understand, I'm so sorry," the girl said frantically._

 _"What the... why?" Fyllie asked, clearly confused. It was stupid to her; that this girl was so apologetic for doing something so absurd. Hitting someone in the head with their paintball gun was such a deliberate offense; it was one that someone would do to intentionally harm someone; not to be sorry for afterwards._

Maybe this girl was an amateur and she panicked. What an idiot.

 _"Please believe me, someone made me, I swear. Someone told me to stop you. It was a girl, she told me-"_

 _"Wait_ what _??" Fyllie interrupted._

"Please _," the girl sounded as if she was about to start crying. "_ Please _believe me, a girl told me that you guys couldn't win this game. She, she told me if I didn't... if I didn't get you..._ hurt _she'd make sure our team was disqualified for the rest of the year. I don't know who she is, she just meant it. It sounds crazy, it is, but_ please _believe me, I'm so sorry. I'm_ so _sorry. She said you'd know what I'm talking about, please understand, I'm so sorry..."_

 _Fyllie just closed her mouth and let the girl continue jabbering on. Annie blackmailed someone on another team to hurt her. How much farther would this go? At least this girl felt bad._

 _This time she couldn't tell Levi. This was an actual match. Erwin would see the blood; the whole team would see her and wonder what happened. If she told them someone hit her in the head with her gun she'd get this pathetic girl in trouble. And being scared shitless by Annie Leonhart was punishment enough._

 _The girl shot her in the ankle after she hit her. It would make sense that she tripped. Tripped and then slammed her head on an edge or something. It would also make sense that she didn't see it coming, since she would have expected the opposing team members to all be together._

 _"Will you please say you tripped? After I shot you in the ankle? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, just please try to understand. I-"_

 _"It's fine, I will," Fyllie replied. "I understand."_

* * *

Next Chapter Soon! Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and tell me what you think!


	6. Pair's Week

**_Welcome to the sixth chapter of my first fanfic!_**

 **NOTICE** :

-the character **Fyllie** (pronunciation: "FILL-ee") June belongs to me.

-the rest of the characters with identified names belong to the anime and manga series **Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin**. " _Trost Univeristy_ ", " _the Scouts_ ", " _The University of Utgard_ ", " _the Titans_ ", while of course are referenced from the series, are **fanmade** (by me) colleges and teams, and the idea belongs to me, and are **not** a part of the Attack on Titan's existing story.

-" **Paint Wars** ", while exists as the well known electronic music festivals, is the name of the College Paintball Sport Association in the fanfic.

- **Language Warning** ; wouldn't be Attack on Titan without it.

- **Sorry I haven't uploaded in such a long time**. I regrettably have been absurdly busy despite being out of school. I do plan to continue and finish this fanfic, so please don't worry!

- **Please leave a review**! It means a lot! Thank you!

* * *

 **"How'd you know there was a way to get up here?"** Fyllie asked, taking a sip of her soda. The two had went and gotten themselves a pizza and drinks, and layed out a blanket to have a roof-top picnic.

Levi shrugged. "Every building has a way to get onto the roof."

Fyllie rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her pizza. "Are we even allowed up here?"

"I don't see why not. Do you like it?" Levi asked, finishing his pizza.

"Yeah, I do." Fyllie finished her slice and then layed down on the blanket and closed her eyes, soaking in the sun.

"Good," Levi said. He pushed his paper plate away as well and layed down beside Fyllie, looking up at the sky.

Fyllie opened her eyes and blushed a bit, turning her head away. She could almost feel how close he was. Even though she had been squished up against him in a closet the night before, this was different, somehow. She felt her cheek and sighed. Just around that area it was still black and blue.

"I see a Coach Erwin trying to take a constipated shit," Levi said plainly.

Fyllie almost choked. " _What_."

"In the clouds," Levi replied.

"You're such a pervert." Fyllie looked up at the clouds, seeing a bunch of fluffy white clumps of random disfigured shapes. "I see cotton candy and flowers," she said.

"I see a bunch of Titans with sticks up their asses." Levi closed his eyes.

" _Wonderful_ ," Fyllie rolled her eyes again, and then couldn't help but close them. Partly because after staring up at a big bright sky, she wanted to give her retna a rest, but also because everything felt just right. The temperature, the breeze. She felt relaxed, but if she had to run a mile, she could. It just felt, _good_.

Levi noticed Fyllie's shut eyes and couldn't help but stare at her for a few seconds before closing his.

"How's Petra doing?" Fyllie asked after a minute.

"Fine, I guess. No different than normal," Levi answered. He hesitated for a few seconds, his mouth opening and closing before letting any words fall out. "You know... Petra was the one who... helped me realize what was going on. With... the Titans." He said quietly.

"Petra's smart," Fyllie answered after a while. "In fact, I'm surprised you didn't get it before."

"Yeah..." Levi sighed. "You know... I don't want you to not tell me these things. they're serious."

"Is this my captain talking or a friend?" Fyllie asked kind of jokingly.

"What makes you think we're friends?" Levi answered jokingly as well.

* * *

"What is up, Scouts? Hope you had an awesome-ass time at my party-" Hanji was cut off immediately as Coach Erwin entered the area, clutching his briefcase firmly, looking exceptionally stoic today. "Uhhh, _anyways_ ," Hanji continued, "if you've checked the group chat, you'll know that this week is Pair's Week! Which means, get ready for a whole lotta partner work!" Hanji made an obvious effort to wink at Fyllie and Levi which made Levi roll his already disinterested eyes, and Fyllie turn a bright shade of pink which she hoped was hidden a bit by her freckles.

"Get to the point, Hanji." Levi said.

"Well, thanks to you~ oh great and powerful leader," Hanji continued, "we're going to make this Pair's Week the best bonding journey ever!"

"This sounds great!" Marco chimed cheerfully.

"Awww, this is cute," Krista smiled.

"Not that we need any extra bonding, though," Ymir said, wrapping her arms around Krista's shoulders.

"Just explain the challenge so we can get to work," Levi said dismissively.

"Okay, okay- This week we're going to see which pair can tolerate each other the most by seeing who spends the most time with their partner outside of practice!" Hanji declared. "Make sure to keep your phones charged, on you, with your GPS activated because we'll be calculating minutes and by the end of the week the winner gets a prize!"

"Quit making this sound like shit, Four-eyes," Levi stepped in. "Whoever wins doesn't have to clean the arena for the next week and also gets to take a free shot at whoever they want on the team."

"Wait really? We can just shoot anyone?" Fyllie asked, surprised. "Can I shoot you?"

"Why would you want to shoot your own partner?" Levi asked as he raised an eyebrow, meaning "I'll remember that for later".

"Well after spending an unnecessary amount of time together it makes sense, right?" Fyllie asked.

"She has a point, Levi!" Hanji said.

"I suppose so- This is beyond the point- Everyone run a lap or I'll make you lick this place clean from head to toe." Levi snapped.

"Well that sounds like a secret kink of yours," Fyllie joked to Levi as she started to jog with the others.

"Shut up and run, brat." Levi answered.

"You should run too." Fyllie replied.

"Why would I do that?" Levi asked.

"Because it's Pair's Week!" Fyllie said. "Look, Mikasa is holding Eren's hand," Fyllie observed- although it was more along the lines of Mikasa ripping the poor boy's arm out of his socket dragging him. "Ymir is carrying Krista _bridal style_ -"

"Are you implying you want me to hold your hand and/or carry you bridal style?" Levi interrupted, with a raised eyebrow.

"N-god dammit. Fine I'll suffer by myself," Fyllie stuttered as she started sprinting to catch up with the others.

Once the team was done running their lap, they observed the practice agenda on the board.

 ** _Conditioning- 30"_**

 ** _Assigned skills- 60"_**

 ** _Balance- 20"_**

 ** _Tricks- 20"_**

 ** _Shooting- 20"_**

 ** _Conditioning- 30"_**

Fyllie walked back over to Levi. "Ready to suffer for three hours together?" She asked sarcastically.

"Totally. I've been waiting for this moment my whole life," Levi replied. "Alright- all you idiots get to conditioning."

Everyone hastily made their way over to the gym part of the arena, including Levi himself. Fyllie walked beside him.

"How many times could you bench press me?" Fyllie asked. She was feeling particularly energetic today, and in a certain mood to annoy Levi.

"I don't know and I don't give a shit," Levi answered.

"Do you have questions about the world that you'd want answered?" Fyllie asked, undeterred.

"No. Get on the floor, brat," Levi demanded once they were over in the gym area. He kicked open a mat for them and was implying for her to lay down to do sit ups.

Fyllie lied down on the mat and started doing sit ups as soon as Levi checked the clock and put his feet over hers. "Well have you ever wondered if someone is 99 pounds, and they eat 1 pound of Oreos, are they technically 1% Oreo?"

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. Of course you're not 1% Oreo. They're pre-diabetic if anything," Levi said. Fyllie's personality, especially when she was like this; random and energetic, was slightly annoying but also a bit refreshing. While Petra's questions and random conversation topics weren't always as "weird", Levi did have a hidden appreciation for them, and would prefer Fyllie continued talking to him rather than her being quiet.

"Hey Levi?" Fyllie asked, as she continued to do sit ups.

"What, brat?" He asked.

"Why did the boy drop his ice cream?" Fyllie asked, smiling a bit.

Levi sighed. "Why?" He asked. He was originally going to say something along the lines of "I don't give a shit", but he didn't want to risk for Fyllie to stop talking to him.

"Because he got hit by a bus," Fyllie said, bursting into laughter in amusement at her own joke.

Levi raised an eyebrow a bit taken aback. "What the hell." He couldn't help but let a smirk of amusement creep onto his lips.

"Why did the girl fall off the swing?" Fyllie asked, her pace of sit ups significantly slowing down from laughing so hard.

"Jesus Christ. Why?" Levi sighed.

"Because she was a quadriplegic." Fyllie answered, confining to laugh.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Fyllie." Levi asked, shaking his head. "And pick up the pace, you're slowing down way too much."

"I just thought you'd be the type of guy to appreciate dark humor," Fyllie answered giggling. "I've never heard you laugh before. Or I don't think I have," she said, slowly picking back up the pace of her sit ups.

"These jokes are just absurd." Levi shook his head. "Where did you even hear them?"

"Somewhere on the internet," Fyllie admitted.

"What kind of shit do you look up?" Levi asked.

"I have no idea," Fyllie replied.

"Time," Levi said, stepping off her feet. "You did horrible. I'm not even going to tell you how many you got. You probably got worse than Armin did when he was in his elementary school gym class."

"Oh whatever," Fyllie said standing up. "Get on the floor, brat!" She said, doing her best imitation of Levi. She had to stop herself from laughing again since her stomach on fire from the sit ups.

"Say that again, _brat_." Levi said in a threatening tone. Once time started, he proceeding to do his sit ups at his signature lightning speed. Fyllie didn't even deny herself that she wanted to look at his abs. She'd seen them maybe once before, when he took off his shirt to aid her bleeding face, but unfortunately she didn't get to oggle like she would have wanted given the situation.

"Did you know that in Nebraska it's illegal to go Whale Hunting?" Fyllie asked him, shifting her weight on her feet which were balanced on Levi's toes.

"That's ridiculous. Nebraska's in the damn middle of the USA," Levi said, rolling his eyes, not slowing down his pace.

"I know, right?" Fyllie said, giggling.

"Why are you so energetic today?" Levi asked.

"I got good sleep, I dunno," Fyllie said. "Also," she continued, "do you think that someone could grate cheese on your six pack?"

" _What the actual f_ -" Levi was cut off by Fyllie's hand over his mouth.

"Levi! That's a naughty word!" Fyllie said.

Levi pulled Fyllie's hand off of him by grabbing her wrist and throwing it away. "Don't touch me with your disgusting grubby peasant hands and go to hell," he replied.

"Time," Fyllie said, grinning in amusement though rolling her eyes.

Levi motioned for her to come down to the floor across from him. "Plank. Once I'm done doing 50 push ups we'll switch," he said.

Fyllie got into the planking position and waited for Levi to start his push ups before taking her knees off the ground. "What are we going to do for assigned practice?" She asked.

"Well it's kind of up to everyone to decide. They have an hour to work on whatever they think they need to improve with the help of their partner of course. If some of them are just complete idiots and focus on the wrong thing entirely, Hanji, Erwin and I get to yell at them," Levi said.

"What are _we_ doing?" Fyllie asked.

"Working on how to know when to shut up," Levi answered. "And then possibly some free running. No shooting. The game plan for this week's team we're facing is pretty simple. The others will distract their mob of brats and we run on the outsides of their arena to their flag. We can't run together though, we'd be easier to spot, and so we have to be able to get there at the same time, so there isn't a risk of the other team getting our flag before us." Levi recognized his first response to be a bit harsh, so he made sure that his continuation of speech was slightly more wordy than he would have cared to make it, ensuring Fyllie knew he wanted to carry on a conversation.

"For the whole hour?" Fyllie asked. Levi was finished with his 50 push ups, and the two took a 30 second test before Fyllie began doing her push ups and Levi held himself in a perfect plank.

"No. We'll focus on more than just once thing," Levi said, shrugging his shoulders a bit despite being in plank form. "We can practice our mid-air launches as well."

"Did you and Petra do those often?" Fyllie asked.

"Sometimes," Levi replied.

The pair continued to condition for the rest of the time, continuing their relentless work outs until they were each drenched in sweat. Fyllie kept a conversation the whole time, and Levi played along- just enough so Fyllie would keep talking to him.

"Did you know that one time there were these teenage boys who wanted to try cocaine for the first time and accidentally ended up snorting their grandfather's ashes?" Fyllie asked as Levi took a long drink of his water.

Levi's eyes widened and make a choking noise before spitting some of the water out of his mouth. " _What?_ " He asked, wiping his mouth. Fyllie doubled over dying in laughter at his reaction, attracting Hanji over to make fun of Levi's action.

"You have water everywhere! What happened, Shorty?" She asked also laughing uncontrollably.

"Shut up. Fyllie's just being a weird ass," He retorted. "In fact, make note that Fyllie's internet activities are to be monitored from now on," he said seriously, although joking.

"Oh yeah, speaking of which," Hanji said, "I don't know where my team notebook is. I swear it was in my room at my desk, Levi. But I've seemed to misplaced it. When I woke up after the party the books at my desk were a mess. Drunk studying, maybe? Either way, I've been looking for that notebook, so if you see it, make sure you tell me!"

Fyllie stopped laughing as Levi and her exchanged glances.

"How stupid can you be to loose that thing?" Levi asked, rolling his eyes, putting up a perfect act.

"I'm not sure," Hanji said thinking. "I still have the majority of the information in my phone, but I really do need it. I can't believe I could have misplaced it so easily. This has never happened before..."

Fyllie's heart sank and she sighed, taking a drink of her water as well. She looked at Levi who gave her a look which seemed to say, "I know..."

* * *

"Oh my god," Fyllie said, as she checked her phone in the passenger seat of Levi's car as the stoic man got in the driver's seat.

"What?" He asked as he turned the key, starting the engine after buckling himself. He debated on whether or not he should buckle Fyllie, but decided he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

"My parents..." Fyllie said. "They're awake!" She shouted with sudden joy. "They woke up, they're okay! This is amazing, oh my gosh, I'm so... relieved- oh, I'm sorry for my sudden outburst, Levi," Fyllie apologized, a bit embarrassed. She blushed a bit and looked down at her phone texting quickly, and didn't notice the genuine content smile Levi was wearing on his face.

"Sorry? You don't need to be sorry, I'm glad they're okay," Levi said honestly. He didn't know if he was glad or not that she didn't see his genuine face of happiness for her. "Did they wake up at the same time?"

"No, my dad woke up about 12 hours after my mom did... My mom was just able to contact me when my dad woke up... and thanks, it's just... I've been so worried... I mean, school blows as it is... but when you have the added pressure of everything that's been happening..." Fyllie drifted off as she buckled herself in and continued texting away on her phone.

"Yeah," Levi agreed. He didn't know what else to say, so he didn't say anything else. He pulled out of the parking lot and started driving. "Where do you want to go to eat?" He asked.

"I don't mind," Fyllie smiled. The whole Pair's week was going relatively well. Levi and her had arranged for him to give her rides to and from practices, and since they were doing the "Pair's Challenge", having such a constant excuse to hang out was pretty fun. Fyllie didn't know how Levi thought about it; she was just able to come to terms with the fact that she liked Levi, but had no idea what he thought about her. Well, she knew he liked her to an extent, but not if he _really_ liked her. Oh well, she didn't expect to be able to figure it out easily.

Levi enjoyed spending time with Fyllie as well, and was also glad they had the reason of Pair's week to spend time together.

"Coffee shop?" Fyllie suggested after putting her phone down.

"Sure, why not," Levi replied.

Once the two were at the coffee shop, they sat themselves at a table and Fyllie plugged in her laptop and opened it up to some of her assignments. Levi did the same with his as well. Fyllie ordered water and a blueberry muffin to munch on, and Levi got tea which was enough for him. The two sat in silence for a while, just focusing on their laptops, and the busy noise of people around them.

"So, what did you think when Hanji... mentioned her notebook?..." Levi asked first. Fyllie was surprised that he ignited their conversation, and didn't know what to say at first.

"I felt bad... I wish we could tell her," she answered after thinking for a few seconds.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Levi said quietly, not knowing where to go from there. "So," he started after a few more minutes of silence, "What... kind of music do you like?..."

Fyllie was again surprised at Levi's sudden interest in conversation and shrugged. "Well you already know that I like pop, but it's really only when I'm in the car. I don't really listen to much music outside of that. I have a few Spotify playlists but nothing specific that I absolutely love," she replied. "What about you?"

"Not much into music," Levi answered. "If I had to answer probably 80's and 90's and early 2000's."

"Cool," Fyllie said.

"What... what are you working on?" Levi asked.

"A paper for history," Fyllie sighed in boredom, rolling her eyes a bit. "What about you?" Fyllie leaned over to look at what was on Levi's screen, but he positioned it in a way that made her incapable of seeing. He didn't make it that obvious though, and Fyllie was unsure whether or not he just did that naturally or if he actually didn't want her to see what was on his screen. She shrugged it off and continued back to her work.

"Same. A research paper," Levi said. "Do you... have any pets?..." he asked.

Fyllie couldn't help but shoot him a curious glance, biting back giggles. Such an odd question for Levi to ask, and how weird for him to be on the asking side of a question instead of the receiving end. She wondered what got into him to be asking her questions in general. "At home we have a cat and we used to have a dog but she died a few years ago," Fyllie answered. "You?"

"No, I don't have any pets," Levi answered. "What's your favorite color?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. Neon colors," Fyllie replied, mentally grinning out how hilarious and adorable it was that Levi was showering her with useless questions as such.

"How come?" Levi asked.

"Because I like bright colors. Neon colors match my hair I guess," Fyllie answered. "What about you?"

"Probably white," Levi said.

"White isn't a color, it's a shade," Fyllie said, still typing away.

"Dammit, you're one of those people," Levi said, rolling his eyes.

"Just the truth, bro," Fyllie giggled.

" _Bro_?" Levi raised an eyebrow. "Whatever. What are you majoring in?" Levi asked.

"Kicking ass and taking names," Fyllie joked.

"No, really," Levi said.

"Education for now," Fyllie said.

"For now?" Levi asked.

"Well yeah. I kind of want to be a teacher; I'm okay with little kids, so I mean that's the closest thing right now. I don't have a natural preference to any specific subject like math and language arts, so I don't have a true thing. Maybe I could be a paintball coach- Hey you should be a paintball coach! What are you majoring in?" Fyllie asked.

Levi couldn't help but smile Fyllie spared him a longer answer this time. "Business. I don't exactly know what I want to be either I suppose... I kind of just want to own a tea shop." Levi sighed and dipped his napkin in Fyllie's water and wiped the table again, which was already practically spotless.

"That's cute," Fyllie giggled. "You have a thing for cleaning- maybe you could be a cleaner?"

"And clean up other people's personal shit? No thanks," Levi said. "Would you rather burn alive or drown?"

"Jesus Christ," Fyllie said. "Where are you getting these from? I guess... how fast am I burning? Like a forest fire or am I slowly being burned at the steak?"

"The hell I know, forest fire." Levi answered.

"Then I'd rather burn. Drowning scares the hell out of me," Fyllie replied.

"Would you rather be able to fly or become invisible?" Levi asked.

"I don't know... Flying would be so cool, but recently I'd rather be able to become invisible..." Fyllie said biting her lip.

"Because... of Annie...?" Levi asked.

"Yeah... the Titans," Fyllie answered.

"What's your favorite movie?" Levi asked.

"Something Marvel. I love the Avengers- or, actually Kingsman Golden circle. I love that movie," Fyllie said.

"Yeah, Kingsman is good," Levi agreed, who didn't watch many movies, but vaguely remembered the violent film full of swearing and action that proved to be mildly humorous.

There was a pause inbetween them before Levi stood up. "I gotta use the bathroom, I'll be back." He lazily shut his laptop, although not all the way before he walked towards the men's restroom and disappeared in the door.

Fyllie looked up and tapped her fingers against the table. She wondered what Levi was doing on his laptop. She didn't suspect anything bad, she was just curious. She also wanted to know why he was asking her so many questions. She found it cute, and the thought of him wanting to know more about her made her cheeks grow pleasantly warm. She decided it wouldn't do any harm if she opened his laptop to see what he was on.

She leaned over and opened the lid, seeing a big list things pulled up. It was obviously some website, and when she scrolled to the top, the title read: " _Conversation-Starting Questions to Get to Know Someone_ ". Fyllie couldn't help but grin before closing his laptop.

* * *

Fyllie's legs were moving at the perfect pace, totally in rhythm. She closed her eyes and knew that Levi was in sync with her. They were going the exact same speed, on either side of the mob. They were right. The team had major blind spots on the far sides. No one could stop them. It would be a total paint bath in the center of the battle, but Fyllie and Levi wouldn't see another player until the next match.

This win was theirs.

 _Slam_.

Fyllie saw her world shift sideways as she now lay on the ground, paintgun 10 feet away from her. She felt her ankle being shot with a paintball, the harsh sting splattering her calf. But she was more concerned about her head. She clumsily took off her goggles and felt around her hairline. Blood.

 _What the hell hapened?_

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Fyllie," a voice said in a panicking tone. "Please, _please_ say you tripped. Please, please, I'm begging you, I'm so sorry," the voice continued desperately.

Fyllie couldn't even process what happened. Did someone hit her in the head with their paintball gun?

She felt a pair of hands under her arms, lifting her up so her back was against a wall. She felt a cloth being pressed against her head, and she opened her eyes to see a scared-looking girl tending to her. Her vision was a bit blurry, and her head throbbed. It was on fire. But Fyllie felt mentally used to it.

"What... the hell happened?" Fyllie managed, closing her eyes again.

"I hit you, I hit you in the head with my gun, I'm so sorry, Fyllie. You don't understand, I'm so sorry," the girl said frantically.

"What the... why?" Fyllie asked, clearly confused. It was stupid to her; that this girl was so apologetic for doing something so absurd. Hitting someone in the head with their paintball gun was such a deliberate offense; it was one that someone would do to intentionally harm someone; not to be sorry for afterwards.

 _Maybe this girl was an amateur and she panicked. What an idiot._

" _Please_ believe me, someone made me, I swear. Someone told me to stop you. It was a girl, she told me-"

"Wait what?" Fyllie interrupted.

" _Please_ ," the girl sounded as if she was about to start crying. " _Please_ believe me, a girl told me that you guys couldn't win this game. She, she told me if I didn't... if I didn't get you... hurt, she'd make sure our team was disqualified for the rest of the year. I don't know who she is, she just meant it. It sounds crazy, it is, but _please_ believe me, I'm so sorry. I'm _so_ sorry. She said you'd know what I'm talking about, please understand, I'm so sorry..."

Fyllie just closed her mouth and let the girl continue jabbering on. _Annie blackmailed someone on another team to hurt her. How much farther would this go? At least this girl felt bad._

This time she couldn't tell Levi. This was an actual match. Erwin would see the blood; the whole team would see her and wonder what happened. If she told them someone hit her in the head with her gun she'd get this pathetic girl in trouble. And being scared shitless by Annie Leonhart was punishment enough.

The girl shot her in the ankle after she hit her. It would make sense that she tripped. Tripped and then slammed her head on an edge or something. It would also make sense that she didn't see it coming, since she would have expected the opposing team members to all be together.

"Will you please say you tripped? After I shot you in the ankle? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, just please try to understand. I-"

"It's fine, I will," Fyllie replied. "I understand."

"W-wait, you will? You actually will?" The girl asked. "You... mean it?"

"Yeah... Just-" Fyllie was interrupted abruptly with the feeling of arms wrapped around her shoulders and squeezing her tightly.

"Thank you," the girl said, hugging her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to do this..."

"Did anyone hurt Levi?" Fyllie asked.

"Your partner? No, no one did. He won't reach the flag without you, though. It's up on a wall," the girl explained, pulling back from the hug. "You need three people to get up on top of it, an absolute minimum of two. Annie said you two would be good enough to get up. It's new so it wouldn't have been on any game footage of us. I'm so sorry, Fyllie. Look, is there a way I can make this up to you? Take you out for ice cream or something sometime afterwards? I feel horrible. I want you to understand how awful I feel. And how grateful I am that you won't tell. You know, Annie told me how understanding you'd be. Or- she didn't really; our conversation was really brief, but she said that you're a nice girl with fiery hair and a lot of freckles. She told me I had to hurt you, and only you; none of your other team members. I told her I didn't want to do this, but she just said you're nice and you'd understand. I see what she meant. I'm still sorry, though... I'm so sorry. I just want you to know-"

"Just shut up," Fyllie interrupted. A part of her blood boiled hearing of what Annie said. Just because someone's "nice" doesn't mean someone has more of a right to hit that person in the head. She still knew that this girl was sorry. She was just probably nervous and just saying all the wrong things. Still, the more the girl spoke, the more Fyllie just wanted to yell that this little brat has just attacked her.

"Right, right, I'm sorry- your head probably hurts... I'm so sorry, for everything. I just... I never wanted to cause any harm, I just want to make things better, now. I'm so sorry, Fyllie. I just want to make this up to you somehow. You know, you're a lot prettier than I thought you'd be. You're gorgeous. I bet that Levi guy really loves you. I think it's cool how close you are with your partners on your team. My partner... well he doesn't like me that much. But it's easy to not like your partner on a team like this where pairs aren't really a big thing. Did you and Levi click right away when you met?"

Fyllie didn't answer and just sighed and closed her eyes, trying to rid herself of her headache. She curled and uncurled her fingers and toes, taking deep breaths. She held the cloth, which seemed to be a piece of the girl's jacket, against her head. Blood was still steadily soaking into the fabric, but she knew the wound wasn't too deep. Heads just tended to not be able to stop bleeding easily. She mentally rolled her eyes and wondered how many times she'd be getting hurt in all this. The thought of quitting the team danced through her mind, but she quickly shooed it away.

A few more minutes passed of Fyllie blocking out the girl's bickering when an airhorne sounded.

* * *

"Scouts, it's okay that we lost. You all preformed wonderfully and it was a horrible accident that Fyllie got injured," Erwin said sternly to the team after everyone loaded onto the bus, slumped into their seats disappointedly. After they lost capture the flag, they could have technically taken both the other matches and won. Unfortunately, they just came up short on one of the free-for-all's, resulting in a loss.

"We should've sent someone with Fyllie and Levi," Krista said sadly. "I can't believe Fyllie got hurt like that!"

"We could have. But as good as you all are, we couldn't have taken the risk of letting you get outnumbered against the other team. We did the best we could have in the situation, Scouts. Today, things just didn't seem to work out. The wall our flag was stationed on indeed was much taller than I would have imagined, and while I am certain Fyllie and Levi could have been able to scale it, the approach the other team took against it was unexpected and well practiced. We will only grow and become better players because of this match." Erwin concluded, giving the team a nod before receding into his seat upfront, pulling out his clipboard.

"Geez, I don't know if I've ever been shot more," Eren complained. "The seems on my goggles I thought would burst after taking so many hits."

"Yeah, it's so weird when a whole front of literally more then ten people come at you all at once! You can shoot maybe two of them, but not before you take like, a whole wrath of paintballs yourself. Is that even something you can train for?" Armin asked, agreeing with Eren.

"Who cares?! They hurt my Krista!" Ymir snapped, holding the angelic blonde protectively.

"Awww, Ymir I'm not that hurt," Krista said blushing bit.

"Doesn't matter! We can't married if you're in pain, babe!" Ymir said.

"Guys, does anyone care about me?" Jean whined, who had acquired a quite painful, close-range "crotch-shot" during the game's match.

"Nope," Ymir answered blankly.

"It really blows that Fyllie got injured. Isn't it strange that there was just one person waiting behind for someone to come?" Sasha asked.

"Not really," Fyllie said a bit too quickly. "it makes sense. It was a good strategy. I would have never expected it. She was hidden well. Popped out from nowhere. It was cheap to shot shooting ankle right before it hit the ground, though. But it worked. ...I'm sorry, Levi."

"It's not your fault." Levi said shortly, clearly upset that Fyllie acquired an injury. She didn't have a concussion which was good news, of course. When Levi saw Fyllie holding a bloody cloth to her head as she walked back to the locker room, he quickly pushed away the girl escorting her who showered him with apologies, and immediately tended to any of her existing needs, although trying to make it discrete, by letting the team members try and help first before shooing them back. He was ashamed to admit that at first he intended to yell at her, out of frustration that she made him wait for so long, before ultimately costing their team the match.

"Yeah I guess that makes sense..." Sasha nodded slowly, munching on a bag of potato chips, sitting next to her partner Connie who was either asleep or completely zoned out like he normally might be.

"It's alright, guys. The next match is on our turf. We'll be sure to win," Marco said encouragingly.

Fyllie didn't hear much after that before she put her earbuds in and lied back, closing her eyes. However she could feel a concerned pair of eyes resting on her and she knew they belonged to Levi.

Fyllie hated having to hide what happened just this match from Levi, and she wasn't even sure if she could restrain from telling him much longer. Looking at him make her feel guilty. As tired as Fyllie was, she didn't want Levi to worry any more than he might already be.

"Do you have a kink for watching people try to sleep?" Fyllie asked Levi jokingly, opening one of her eyes to look at him.

"Do you have a kink for assigning asinine kinks to people just to annoy them?" Levi retorted, with a hint of an amused smirk on his lips.

Fyllie rolled her open eye and smiled. "How are you?" She asked.

"I'm fine. You?" Levi answered.

"I feel like shit," Fyllie laughed. It was a joke even though her head still pulsed heavily. "And are you sure you're fine?"

"Yeah. I said I'm fine, didn't I?" Levi replied.

"Well, fine normally isn't good," Fyllie continued, debating on whether or not she should sit up.

"What's wrong with fine?" Levi asked.

"Well, good means good, awesome means awesome, but fine never means fine. It's a thing," Fyllie explained.

"Fine then. I'm goddamn fabulous," Levi said with a serious expression.

Fyllie smiled and started to sit up slowly. "What are we doing tonight?" She asked him.

"I don't know." Levi answered. "I have an idea."

"Can you enlighten me on this idea, oh great plan-maker?" Fyllie said sticking her tongue out.

"It's a surprise," Levi answered.

"A surprise just for me? Omg, how wonderful! I feel so cared about and honored to be worthy of a surprise given by the steel-hearted Lance Corporal Levi!" Fyllie said in her most animated, annoying tone she could muster without breaking into laughter. 'Lance Corporal' was one of the nicknames Hanji called Levi when he acted too serious; as if he was actually a soldier in an army.

Levi just raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Okay surpise is cancelled," he said.

Fyllie just smiled in amusement, not wanting to laugh out loud because of her headache.

* * *

Fyllie eventually did fall asleep on bus ride home.

"Wake up," Levi demanded, shaking her shoulder a bit with a firm grip. Fyllie yawned and stretched before flopping limp back into her bus seat, all without opening her eyes.

They were ten minutes from their arena in Trost University where they would go home. Levi only woke her up early because she still had to put her shoes one and gather up her trash, which were a few candy wrappers and things.

"Fyllie, get your shit together," Levi nagged. He knew he didn't have to nag her, she was fine even if she woke up just a few seconds becore pulling into their parking lot. To be honest, Levi just wanted an excuse to talk to her.

"Hhhnngggh I just want to sleep..." Fyllie mumbled before burying her face in the crook of her arm.

"You have to put your shoes on," Levi said.

"No I don't," Fyllie said.

"Yeah you do," Levi said stubbornly.

"Why?" Fyllie asked.

"Because you could get a foot infection waking around barefoot on public surfaces," Levi answered.

Fyllie couldn't help but giggle. "You aren't telling anyone else to put their shoes on."

"Well, you're the closest person next to me," Levi reasoned.

"Well I don't want to put them on," Fyllie said. "It's gross to put back on socks you already wore and sweat in," she explained, because to put on her shoes she'd have to put back on her socks.

"Well that's not my problem," Levi said.

"I have slides in my bag," Fyllie yawned.

"Then get them."

"But I don't need to until the bus stops."

"Better now than never."

"Goodnight, Levi," Fyllie smiled.

Levi sighed.

When Fyllie did wake up, only a few minutes later, she gathered her food wrappers in one hand with a single scoop and shoved them in her bag, along with her shoes, and pulled out her pair of slides. Levi couldn't help but notice how quickly she could ready herself, and was slightly embarrassed, thinking that maybe she would catch onto how he'd spoken to her earlier just because he wanted to talk.

The bus stopped, Erwin added his last comments, Hanji gave some team reminders and then they team was free to leave. Fyllie got in the passenger side of Levi's car after hanging around and talking to the rest of the team. Levi was already there waiting for her.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Ready for what?" Fyllie asked.

"Your surprise," Levi answered, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

"Pft, you were actually serious?" Fyllie asked.

"Of course," he replied.

"How big is my surprise?" Fyllie asked.

"Pretty big; do you have any important tests tomorrow or anything due? Plans?" Levi asked.

"I don't think so. I have a paper I have to share over Google Docs due by midnight tonight but I'm practically finished," Fyllie said, rubbing her eyes. Her headache was pretty much gone, just a medium-sized band aid-patch left in the place of the broken skin.

"Your surprise is a very time consuming one. You'll need some extra clothes for this one," Levi said. "And we have to leave tonight."

"Hm? A road-trip? Where to?" Fyllie asked, sitting up straighter, looking at her partner.

"Well, I was thinking that, since your parents have woken up now, they would probably want to see you... And you would probably want to see them. Since they most likely won't be able to drive down here for a while, and you don't have a car, I was thinking I could take you to them for a visit," Levi said.

Fyllie couldn't hide the disbelief from her eyes. "You... you actually want to do that?" She asked, blushing a bit.

"Of course," Levi said.

Fyllie grinned and looked forward, feeling warm and fluttery inside. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, brat..." Levi replied, unable to stop his mouth from forming a smile.

* * *

Excerpt from the next chapter:

 _"Hello...?" Fyllie answered._

 _"Good morning, sunshine," a voice Fyllie knew all too well answered._

 _"What do you want this time, Annie?" Fyllie asked._

 _"I just wanted to know how you are after I got that wonderful little pushover to take you out at yesterday's match," Annie replied nonchalantly._

 _"I'm doing fine," Fyllie said._

 _"Great. Did you tell anyone?" Annie asked._

 _"Listen. I don't know what the hell you're getting from all of this, but I don't want to deal with your shit anymore. Leave me and my team alone, okay? My parents are fine and will be fine and you wouldn't even be able to touch them. Interfere one more time and you'll get expelled after all you and your friends have done," Fyllie said seriously._

 _"Oooh, tough girl," Annie said sarcastically. "Well, as strong as you seem, you and your team's golden soldier Levi aren't on campus this weekend, are you? You've left your precious team behind."_

 _"D-" Fyllie was cut off as Levi walked back in the door._

 _"Hey, you're awake," he said, carrying a few big brown paper bags that smelled like a super sweet breakfast and tea. "Who are you on the phone with?"_

 _The freckled girl sighed. "Sasha. She wants to know what color Connie should dye his hair." Fyllie thought she was pretty good for coming up with something as random and stupid as that, which was actually something that crazy couple would probably call her about._

 _"Tell them if he dyes his hair anything in the rainbow he's off the team," Levi said sarcastically, setting down the bags on their table._

 _"Okay...," Fyllie said, faking a laugh._

 _"See you around, Fyllie," Annie said before she hung up._

* * *

Next Chapter hopefully by **July 22nd**! Thanks for reading!


	7. Singing in the Shower

**_Welcome to the seventh chapter of my first fanfic!_**

 **NOTICE** :

-the character **Fyllie** (pronunciation: "FILL-ee") June belongs to me.

-the rest of the characters with identified names belong to the anime and manga series **Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin**. " _Trost Univeristy_ ", " _the Scouts_ ", " _The University of Utgard_ ", " _the Titans_ ", while of course are referenced from the series, are **fanmade** (by me) colleges and teams, and the idea belongs to me, and are **not** a part of the Attack on Titan's existing story.

-" **Paint Wars** ", while exists as the well known electronic music festivals, is the name of the College Paintball Sport Association in the fanfic.

- **Language Warning** ; wouldn't be Attack on Titan without it.

- **I'm glad that I was able to get this chapter out much quicker**! Like I said before I'm very busy, but I do really enjoy writing this and will continue to do so! I am not sure how long this story will be; now I'm thinking maybe 20-ish chapters? What are your thoughts? Also which chapter do you think Fyllie and Levi should finally get together? Kiss? Is there any specific scene or thing you want to happen? Maybe a possible fluff or date scenario? Leave your requests/thoughts in your review or PM me! Thanks!

- **Please leave a review**! It means a lot! Thank you! And thank you for the reviews I've received in the past!

* * *

" **Krista and Ymir won the Pair's Challenge** ," Fyllie said. She was slouched in the passenger side in Levi's car, the seat tilted back all the way, and Levi was even generous enough to let her rest her bare feet on his dash. She had notified her parents that she was coming and they were both happy and excited to see her.

"Figures," Levi sighed, a little disappointed Fyllie and him didn't win. They went out to eat after every practice and either just chilled at his place or something doing homework. They didn't spend the night though, which is where Ymir and Krista got he extra advantage. They were roommates, and spent every second they had together, except some of their classes they couldn't schedule together.

Fyllie giggled whilst reading the group chat. "Krista doesn't want to take a free shot on anyone, so she's giving it to Ymir and Ymir wants to shoot Jean twice," she said laughing. "Krista doesn't want her to shoot anyone."

Levi chuckled a bit shaking his head. "Sounds about right."

The two were on the way to visit Fyllie's parents, who were a few states over. They would be driving through the night, since Fyllie didn't want to bother Levi with he expenses of staying at a hotel. Depending on their rest stops and whether or not they took a break from driving for some shut-eye, they would be able to arrive at the hospital sometime in the afternoon the next day.

"Are we there yet?" Fyllie asked with a straight face. They had been driving for a bout an hour, now.

Levi gave her a look of absolute disbelief. "Are you serious, brat?" He asked.

"No," Fyllie answered, laughing. "I was just joking."

"I was gonna say..." Levi said shaking his head. Levi shook his head so much when he was around her, Fyllie wondered if he ever got headaches from it.

"What's your opinion of the team this year?" Fyllie asked.

"What do you mean?" Levi replied.

"Well, I mean... what do you think of everyone?" Fyllie said.

"They're all decent," Levi answered shortly.

"Well what's your personal opinion of them all?" Fyllie pressed on.

"I don't have time to formulate actual opinions for everyone," Levi said, rolling his eyes.

"Just say the first thing that comes to your mind," Fyllie said. "I'll list off everyone's names."

"Fine." Levi sighed.

"Hanji," Fyllie started.

"Mad scientist. Most likely to go to a mental hospital," Levi answered.

"Armin." Fyllie continued.

"Pussy- I mean, ...faint of heart," Levi said, Fyllie dissolving into laughter.

" _Faint of heart_? What is this some medieval fantasy? Lord of the Rings?" Fyllie giggled. "Okay, Eren."

"Shithead." Levi said immediately.

Fyllie rolled her eyes a bit. "Mikasa."

"Shithead's mom." Levi said just as fast as his response for Eren.

"Jean." Fyllie was interested to hear what he had to said about Jean.

"Horse." Levi said blankly. Fyllie shrugged. Predictable.

"Marco." She said.

"Attracted to horses and loves people too much."

"Are you implying he's into bestiality?" Fyllie asked jokingly.

"God, I don't know, next person," Levi quickly said.

"Krista."

"Loves people too much."

"Ymir."

"Hates people too much except Krista."

"Sasha."

"How is she not morbidly obese."

"Connie."

"Something is wrong with that kid. I look at him, and I'm like- there's no way you were born normally. You were probably shit out of someone's ass feet-first."

Fyllie snorted before a waterfall of laughter poured out pf her mouth. Levi smiled slightly, noticing an odd feeling of satisfaction wash over him knowing that he had made her laugh.

"That's great," Fyllie coughed after she stopped laughing. "What about me?"

Levi hesitated. Fyllie said to say the first thing that came to his mind, but so many things came up all at once he didn't know what to say.

"Crazy?" He answered after a few seconds. And it was true. She was crazy. Not in an insane way, but energetic, confident at times but then terribly humble at others. She said the most random things, and she was crazy good at paintball. Crazy seemed to sum her up decently well. And it was easier to say than _beautiful_ , or _cute_ , or something that could hint towards Levi liking the freckled girl; which were some of the first things that came to Levi's mind.

"Fair enough," Fyllie shrugged. She was a bit disappointed he didn't say something more flattering, but she wasn't complaining. "Now you do me."

"Fine. Hanji," Levi said.

"Crazy Aunt," Fyllie replied.

"Armin."

"Smart."

"Eren."

"Intense."

"Mikasa."

"Loves Eren."

"Jean."

"Perverted horse."

"Marco."

"Caring."

"Krista."

"Sweet-hearted Angel Goddess."

"Ymir."

"Demon," Fyllie joked.

"Sasha."

"Potato, one of my best friends."

"Connie."

"An unskilled Avatar Aang."

"A what?"

"You know, **Avatar the last Airbender**? The really popular animated show from the years 2005 to 2008?" Fyllie asked. "It was on nickelodeon but then the sequel came out called **Legend of Korra** , but it became so dark they had to take it off. Basically there are four elements of the earth- Water, Fire, Earth and Air, and there are four "nationalities" of people. There's the Water Tribe, Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom and the Air Nomads, and some people from each nationality can "bend" their elements, or like control them with movements. And the Fire Nation is the antagonist, although that doesn't mean that the whole Fire Nation is evil, but anyways there's this kid named Aang, and he's the Avatar, which means he can bend all the elements, and he's the only one who can save the world," Fyllie explained. She just honestly wanted to see how annoyed she could make Levi after explaining the whole show to him.

Levi paused, and surprisingly didn't look that annoyed. He seemed focused on driving, and just wore a neutral look on his face. "So what nationality is the Avatar?" he asked.

Fyllie was really confused for a moment. "Uhhh, there's a cycle. The Avatar is one of the four nationalities, and once he or she dies, the next Avatar is born in the next nationality," she explained, carefully studying Levi's face, trying to figure out if he actually wanted to know this useless stuff.

"Huh, interesting," Levi said.

"Mmhmm," Fyllie nodded, not knowing what to say after that.

"Me," Levi said.

"What?" Fyllie asked.

"What's the first thing you think of about me?" He asked, reminding her that she was still going down the line of people on the team.

"Oh. Ummm, brat?" Fyllie offered.

"I'm a brat?" Levi asked looking at her.

"No, you just always call everyone a brat," Fyllie said.

"Fair enough," Levi replied.

"What do you think about everyone on the team like, seriously?" Fyllie asked after a few seconds.

"What do you mean?" Levi asked.

"Like if you have to write about how you truly see them, what would they be?" Fyllie explained.

"Jesus, I don't know," Levi answered. "This is weird. Why do you want to know?"

"I don't know, this is what friends talk about. Sasha and the team and I discuss this type of stuff," Fyllie explained, thinking.

"Okay you go first then," Levi said.

"Alright," Fyllie said. And so Levi and Fyllie went back down their mental list of people. Fyllie mentioned how awesome she thought Hanji was because of how much work she put into being co-captain and how she also balanced paintball with the abundance of classes she was taking.

Armin was an academic and logical genius, who was kind and respectful. He just needed to gain some confidence in himself and get out of his own head.

Eren was loud and whilst possessing barely any outstanding talents, his intensity and determination wasn't something that anyone could teach, and it was cool that he never gave up.

She said that she was low-key terrified of Mikasa, because she was such a badass, and intelligent, good at everything and intimidating. She thought it was nice of her to always look out for Eren, though she could tone it back a bit since the boy was 19.

Fyllie didn't have much to say about Jean. He tried a bit hard in social situations especially with girls, and his face took on the unfortunate shape of a horse, but he was skilled at paintball and a good part of the team who proved to be really amusing and humorous at times.

Marco was so sweet and kind to everyone. He was welcoming and always had something positive to say, and also had made Fyllie feel confident when she wasn't feeling as confident as she could. Even though Jean was his best friend, Marco also made sure he had time to listen and care for everyone.

Levi tapped on the steering wheel a bit during the time Fyllie was talking about Marco. It made him a little jealous, when Fyllie mentioned Marco was able to make her feel confident at some times.

Fortunately for Levi, Fyllie didn't notice his anxious tapping, although a part of him wanted her to know he hoped he could convey to her she should be confident in herself.

Fyllie went on about how much a little angel goddess Krista was, which Levi just nodded his head in agreement. Fyllie said she liked Ymir, she admitted she was kind of jealous of Krista sometimes, to have that person always there showing her how much she loved her. Levi couldn't help but glance over at Fyllie for a few seconds, debating on whether or not he was surprised Fyllie actually wanted something like that. Fyllie said that Ymir was a bit overbearing at times, but she thought it was cute how much she cared about someone.

The freckled girl said she loved Sasha, and thought she was hilarious. She said that Sasha was a really physical person, and loved hugging and cuddling; which was something Fyllie wasn't really used to since she didn't always have many close friends. She thought that her love for food was awesome, because nowadays a lot of people are self conscious about what they eat, but it was cool that Sasha didn't care. This made Levi wonder whether or not Fyllie was self conscious about eating, but couldn't find it in him to ask. Sasha was also really good at conforting people even though she didn't look like it.

Fyllie said she thought Connie was hella chill, and everyone should be able to sleepwalk through life like him sometimes, and just be worry free. She thought he could be kind of dumb sometimes, and zone out of conversations which was annoying, but she was glad to be his friend.

Throughout all this, Fyllie was constantly thinking about what Levi was thinking of her. If he was judging her, if he thought she was crazy to be talking to him like this, but after she was done talking about each person, Levi would say the next name, and he never told her to shut up, or that she was talking too much.

Levi tried to listen to every word she said, processing each sentence. This was one of those times when Fyllie wasn't telling him stupid facts, or ludicrous stories. He enjoyed those as well, but he did like to be reminded how real of a person Fyllie was. Sometimes he couldn't stop himself though from zoning out, and just listening to the sound of her voice. He didn't want her to stop talking.

"So, what about me?..." Levi asked when he was the last person on the team left.

Fyllie shifted in her seat and laughed nervously. "Well, can you tell me what you think of the team and then I'll tell you?" She asked, blushing a bit. She wouldn't know what to say about Levi. She didn't know how to say anything without making it sound like she liked him, or not stuttering. Her heartbeat was pumping faster the more she thought about what she should say.

"I pretty much agree with your opinions," Levi said truthfully. "Hanji and Armin were pretty much spot on, as well as Eren and Mikasa, though I'm not intimidated by Mikasa. Jean and Marco are good at paintballing while Jean is stupid and Marco is nice. Krista's a little angel, but I think she needs to learn to be more aggressive. I like Ymir's aggressive paintball style, she's fearless. A bit annoying how much she talks of Krista and her getting married, because she talks about it so much but it never actually happens so she's kind of all talk."

Fyllie was surprised at how many words kept coming our of Levi's mouth. Even more surprised that he actually seemed to be listening to when she felt like she was babbling.

"I still don't know how Sasha isn't much heavier than she is, and Connie's a total airhead but they're decent at paintball," Levi finished. "Now can you tell me what you think about me?" He asked, sounding a bit more desperate than he would have wanted, and he mentally cursed himself for sounding so eager, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now.

"Can you tell me what you think about me first?" Fyllie asked, laughing nervously. She found it cute that he wanted to know what she thought of him so bad, but she still had no idea what she was going to say.

"No- and what's so funny?" Levi asked, looking at her, raising an eyebrow, making her look away so she didn't laugh harder.

"I have no idea," Fyllie answered. "Can you please go first- I talk more than you anyways so you owe me this."

" _I_ owe _you_? I'm driving my ass off to take you to your parents, I think it's _you_ who owes _me_!" Levi said, smiling amusedly a little bit.

"Gah," Fyllie smiled back, rolling her eyes. "You have a point, Corporal Shorty..." Levi smirked. "Ummm," Fyllie didn't know where to start. "Well, you... Ermm..." She chewed on her knuckled nervously.

"Yeah?" Levi pressed on, raising his eyebrow.

"You're... a good captain, _hella_ good at paintball, I think that you and Hanji are cute as friends, and how you care about Petra is... really sweet... I think you have a good sense of humor and you deal with mine well; you're considerate to an extent and you swear a lot and you're shorter than someone would think," Fyllie finished. She made sure to leave out the part about how his abs were the stuff of legend, he could totally be a playboy, and she thought he looked super hot in fitted clothes.

Levi thought for a moment. He wondered what point she was trying to make with the Petra thing, but couldn't come up with a conclusion. "Thanks, I guess...?" He said. He was a bit disappointed like before, that she didn't say anything hinting she actually liked him, but pushed that thought out of his mind.

"Yeah, sure," Fyllie smiled nervously.

"Well I think you're..." Levi thought for a moment. He didn't know what he wanted to say; he wanted to say something sweet and nice that would make her feel good, and build her up like she mentioned Marco did, but he didn't want to make it sound like he liked her incase she didn't feel the same way.

"You think I'm...?" Fyllie prodded, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"Really good at paintball," Levi started, and mentally complimented himself for that. A true, honest compliment that couldn't be misinterpreted. "You're really agile... You care about the team while also having a good sense of humor. You make the people on the team laugh. They all love you, even though you weren't at tryouts and transferred this year, and that's... a special thing, I suppose." Levi paused and thought about his next words. "I... I like your random... questions? Comments? Jokes? I'm not sure what to call them. And I like your hair because... I don't think I've ever seen someone with such distinctly vibrant yellow and orange hair. I think your freckles are..." _Cute_. Levi wanted to say cute.

Fyllie bit her knuckles harder in anticipation when Levi paused. She had always been super self-conscious about her freckles.

"Pretty," Levi finally said. "They're pretty, and they're something that makes you, you. And I like your glasses."

Fyllie grinned. "Thanks," she said. She laughed a bit, feeling unnaturally giddy. "That actually... makes me feel really good," she laughed.

"Of course." Levi replied blankly. He pretended to look out the window at some passing cars so Fyllie wouldn't notice his cheekbones and ears were turning slightly pink. "I'm glad," he added, looking back at her with a small smile.

* * *

Fyllie couldn't stop thinking about what Levi had said about her. It made her heart flutter like he was saying them right now, and she hated that. Her cheeks felt warm and the urge to smile keep pleading at her lips. _He liked her freckles_. He thought they were pretty, and he liked her hair. He _liked_ her random jokes, something that she was _positive_ annoyed the shit out of him.

Levi couldn't stop thinking about what Fyllie said about him, either. He didn't really know how to feel; he wished she'd said more.

The two had stopped for a restroom break, and had gotten snacks and something to eat from a drive thru.

Fyllie had gotten tired early on, and when she yawned and pulled out her headphones, Levi told her to plug in her phone to his radio so she could listen to her music.

Levi dug into his bag for a brief moment and pulled out one of his jackets, and draped it lazily over her shoulders. He didn't want to make it seem like he cared _too_ much, although he was having a mental battle on whether he should be more stoic, or like Marco, and what Fyllie would like him to be more.

When Fyllie woke up from her nap, it was completely dark and they seemed to be the only ones on the highway. It was about 2am. She couldn't even see that she was covered in Levi's jacket, but she just assumed it was a blanket of some sort.

"You awake?" Levi asked. Fyllie couldn't help but smile when she heard her music still playing. Levi hadn't taken it out.

"Yeah," Fyllie yawned and stretched. "Are you sure you're awake?"

"Mmhmm," Levi said. "Although I..." he paused for a fraction of a second. "I'm glad you're up now. The ride's been pretty boring."

Fyllie and Levi we're both glad it was dark because they could blush all they wanted and the other wouldn't notice.

"Are you tired?..." Fyllie asked.

"A bit, but not enough to fall asleep for a while," Levi replied.

"You know, I can drive right? If you need to sleep?" Fyllie offered.

"I'm good for now." Levi answered.

Fyllie didn't say anything for a few seconds as she played on her phone for a moment. She sighed and leaned her head back.

"What?" Levi asked her after a while.

"What?" Fyllie asked.

"I don't know," Levi said. "You seem disappointed or something."

Fyllie shrugged. "Well... I was just thinking," she answered quietly.

"About what?" Levi asked, looking at her through the dark. He was able to look at her better now, for longer periods of time, since there was no one on the road with them at this hour and they'd just be driving in a straight line for another hour or so.

"Well," Fyllie started. "I mean... this is probably just the night talk, but-"

"What's night talk?" Levi asked.

"You know there's this thing where people tend to be more revealing I guess or verbally intimate? When they're tired and it's late, you know?" Fyllie asked/explained.

"I've never heard of that but it makes sense," Levi said honestly.

"Well, it's just... I think it's crazy that I'm in a car with you at _2am_ going to see my _parents_. I met you like, a bit less than three-ish weeks ago? And while I don't think you're going to come out of left field and be an axe murder, it's just crazy... I think that it's crazy that you're doing this for me, I guess," Fyllie said.

Levi was silent for a while. "That makes sense," he answered. "I want to do this. I like being with you. And after everything that's happened, you really need to see your parents.."

Fyllie thought her heart was going to plunge into her stomach at that moment and she immediately flushed a beat red. "You do?..." she asked, referring to him saying _he liked to be with her_.

"Of course," Levi said, shrugging. "Isn't it obvious?" He asked, a bit jokingly, making Fyllie laugh a bit.

"Definitely not obvious, Shorty," Fyllie replied, rolling her eyes.

"Well, now you know," Levi answered.

"Petra doesn't mind us... hanging out, does she?" Fyllie asked, still blushing.

"What do mean?" Levi asked, slightly confused and taken aback by her question.

"Well, aren't you guys a thing?" Fyllie asked sleepily.

"Uhh, no, we're not a thing," Levi answered.

"You're not?" Fyllie asked. "Everyone thinks that."

"Well, you told me once that maybe Petra injured herself on purpose so she didn't have to deal with someone like me," Levi reminded Fyllie. "Did you think we were dating then?"

Fyllie looked down, ashamed at what she had said a little while ago. Levi noticed this and mentally scolded himself.

"Don't be like that, it's over, and I was a dick that day," Levi said, trying to take on the most comforting tone he possessed.

Fyllie lightly smiled. "No, I didn't think you were dating, but I mean you still visit her a lot and you guys have such good chemistry," she explained.

"We aren't a thing. Petra's a really good friend, but we aren't a couple." Levi said.

"Were you ever?" Fyllie asked.

Levi hesitated. "We thought about it, maybe. But we never actually confirmed to be each others' _date_."

"Oh come on," Fyllie said. "Did you guys ever kiss or not?"

"Well," Levi hesitated. "Does it matter?"

"I mean," Fyllie thought. She guessed it didn't matter. She honestly just wanted to know if the two were dating or not, and since they weren't, that meant she had an actual chance with Levi. "Not really," she answered, although her curiosity burned her insides to ash. "Do you like her at all _now_?" Fyllie couldn't help but ask.

"As a friend," Levi answered.

"No romantic chemistry in between you guys?" Fyllie asked, surprised.

"Not really," Levi shrugged. Fyllie felt her cheeks grow warm and butterflies in her stomach. She loved Petra; she was so sweet and nice and cute, and she couldn't fathom how Levi didn't like her. Even so, that meant that the odds of Levi liking her greatly increased. She felt like a love-struck schoolgirl.

"Did you ever date anyone?" Levi asked.

"No," Fyllie admitted, pulling herself out of her mental haze.

"Why not?" Levi asked, surprised.

"Because I was a lonely loner," Fyllie laughed.

Levi smiled in amusement. "No, really," he said.

"Ummm, I kept to myself. I wasn't exactly bullied, I just was super self conscious so I never really made any really good friends. There was a time when I invited some kids to my birthday party to play paintball, but they were all really bad and they thought I brought them to the arena just to make fun of them," Fyllie explained. Levi couldn't fathom the idea that she wasn't popular in her school. With such a colorful personality, surely kids would find it fun to be around.

"That sucks," Levi said, looking at her sincerely. "I think we'd be friends if we went to the same school when we were younger."

Fyllie grinned and raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah, why not?" He asked.

Fyllie smiled for a good few seconds and looked at Levi. She liked him so much. He was... _everything_. She felt naive and stupid for falling for someone so hard that she'd only known for a few weeks, but to be honest with herself, they had gotten to know each other pretty well. And in the short period of time they knew each other, he _had_ showed her that he cared about her.

Then, her smile turned to a frown and she sighed. She thought back to earlier today, or yesterday, at their match with that girl. Should she tell Levi that Annie had told that girl to hit her? Levi hadn't lied to her, she didn't think. And he wanted her to tell him these things. And she'd lied to him once before about it...

"Levi?" She said quietly.

"Yes, Fyllie?" He answered, noticing her tone and looking back at her, searching to find her eyes through the dark. He could see the light from the car controls reflect off her orbs.

"Annie was a part of what happened today... that girl who helped me?... Annie told her to hurt me," Fyllie said quietly.

Levi looked at her without a reaction for a while. "Fyllie..." he started, then proceeded to pull over on the highway, turning on the light in the car so he could look at her.

Fyllie sighed and looked down. "When I was running, she came out of a corner and hit me in the head with her paintball gun. She then shot my ankle so the story could be that she made me trip. She was really sorry, and she was scared _shitless_ of Annie. Annie told her that if she didn't hurt me or make our team loose this match, that's she'd get their team disqualified somehow..."

Levi looked frustrated and upset. He couldn't say he was 100% surprised; it was a little strange she could get injured again while he wasn't around. And the fact that it was her and no one else, and it explained the fact of why there was some stray player on the other team just hanging out all alone.

"I didn't tell you because... I was... I was still afraid of Annie, afraid that she'd hurt my parents, or the team. And I'm still scared about her hurting the team. But now that we're visiting my parents... I know that there's no way that the Titans could hurt them, and I'm not afraid anymore... I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away..." Fyllie continued to explain quietly.

Levi bit his lip not knowing what to say. "It's fine. Thanks for telling me," he said quietly. And he _was_ glad that she could tell him. It made him feel good inside that she trusted him this time, even though he was pissed about what happened. His expression softened.

Fyllie looked at him and sadly smiled, biting her lip.

* * *

After Fyllie had told Levi the truth, he continued driving for an hour before pulling over again so they could both take a rest. Levi set his phone to ring in two hours, and leaned his seat back, crossing his arms over his chest before dozing off.

Fyllie snuggled into Levi's jacket and slept peacefully as well. When she realized it was his jacket and not some blanket, she felt herself get so hot she didn't need any extra warmth, so she just let it lay on her lap for a while until she cooled down. Levi didn't seem to notice.

When they woke up, it was still dark, and they could be driving for at least another eight or so hours before they got to the hospital.

They spent their time listening to random YouTube videos Fyllie thought were funny. Levi found some ridiculously stupid, but others he did find humorous.

They went through another Drive-thru to get food and take a restroom break, and continued on their road trip. Fyllie took that time to change out of her old clothes. She suggested the idea to Levi, but he thought the bathroom was too unsanitary to do such a thing.

"Do you sing in the shower?" Fyllie asked out of the blue.

"No, why do you ask?" Levi answered, raising an eyebrow. He didn't know why he was taken aback by her weird questions anymore; he thought as if he should be used to them already. He didn't question her sanity anymore, and he always answered them.

"Because the only people who don't sing in the shower have no souls," Fyllie giggled.

"Do _you_ sing in the shower?" Levi asked.

"Uhhh, yeah? Do I seem like someone who doesn't sing in the shower?" She answered.

"True," Levi said, realizing his stupidity. Of course she sings in the shower. How could someone with her personality not? "What do you sing?" He asked, just continuing the conversation.

"Um, **Shower** by some chick named Becky" Fyllie said.

"What's that?" Levi asked.

"A song," Fyllie answered.

"What does it sound like?" Levi asked.

"Want me to play it?" Fyllie offered, picking up her phone which was still connected to the sound system.

"Yeah, sure," Levi answered honestly.

"Okay," Fyllie said as she found the song on one of her playlists.

 _'I don't know but it's something about ya_

 _Got me feeling like I can't be without ya_

 _Anytime someone mention your name_

 _I be feeling as if I'm around ya_

 _Ain't no words to describe you, baby_

 _All I know is that you take me high_

 _Can you tell that you drive me crazy?_

 _Cause I can't get you off my mind'_

Fyllie smiled and sang along, holding her phone as if it was a microphone close to her mouth. Her singing voice didn't sound like her talking voice. It sounded higher and clearer, and really... beautiful. It was cute that she knew the words; Levi had never really been that much into music. He smiled a bit watching her so happy and carefree.

Pop wasn't Levi's favorite genre at all, but he could understand why people liked it. He wouldn't choose to listen to this song by himself, but as he listened to lyrics, the more he wanted this song to be about him.

 _'Think of you when I'm going to bed_

 _When I wake up, think of you again_

 _You are my homie, lover and friend_

 _Exactly why,You light me up inside_

 _Like the fourth of July_

 _Whenever you're around_

 _I always seem to smile_

 _And people ask me how_

 _Well, you're the reason why_

 _I'm dancing in the mirror_

 _Singing in the shower'_

Fyllie grinned and winked at Levi playfully, giggling at his confused look. He was smiling, though, which was good. Fyllie wondered if he thought that this song had anything to do with him. Fyllie knew this song long before she had ever met Levi, but since meeting him and becoming closer, this song _was_ about Levi. It honestly was pretty much exactly how she felt about him, besides the fact they were unfortunately not lovers.

 _'All I want, all I need is your loving_

 _Baby, you make me hot like an oven_

 _Since you came you know what I've discovered?_

 _Baby, I don't need me another_

 _No, no all I know_

 _Only you got me feeling so_

 _And you know that I got to have you_

 _And I don't plan to let you go'_

Levi's ears glowed a light pink. and he just smiled and shook his head as Fyllie continued to sing. The freckled girl paused to shove a few Pringles in her mouth, and Levi chuckled a bit, looking back to the road.

 _'There ain't no guarantee_

 _But I'll take a chance on we_

 _Baby let's take our time_

 _Singing in the shower_

 _And when the times get rough_

 _There ain't no giving up_

 _Cause it just feels so right_

 _Singing in the shower_

 _Don't care what others say_

 _If I got you I'm straight_

 _You bring my heart to life, yeah'_

"You light me up inside like the fourth of July, whenever you're around, I always seem to smile, and people ask me how, well you're the reason why I'm singing in the shower~" Fyllie sang, pointing at Levi jokingly and poking his cheek whenever she sang the smile part.

Levi's heart skipped a few beats and he just rolled his eyes and shook his head, trying to pay attention to driving, hiding how flustered he was getting.

When the song was over, Levi just smiled amusedly, still pink around his cheekbones and ears. "You actually sing that in the shower?" He asked.

"Well yeah," Fyllie answered. "It's the first song on my 'Shower' playlist!"

Levi rolled his eyes again and shook his head. "Of course it is."

"Did you like it?" Fyllie asked.

"I suppose it was kind of fun sounding. Wasn't a fan of the girl's voice though; a little nasally," Levi shrugged.

"Well what would you rather it sound like?" Fyllie asked curiously.

 _More like yours_ , is what Levi wanted to say. "I don't know," Levi answered. "Less nasally."

* * *

"Fyllie, we're here," Levi said, shaking her shoulder. He parked by the visitor's entrance of the hospital, and unbuckled himself. The fiery-haired girl didn't even stir, which gave Levi the opportunity to change his shirt real quick. He also pulled down the mirror and fixed his hair, which was already close to perfect. When he decided he looked decently more than presentable, he shook Fyllie again.

"Hmm...?" Fyllie yawned, not opening her eyes.

"We're here," Levi said again.

"We are?" Fyllie opened her eyes and sat up. "Woah, we really are here," she stretched ran a hand through her hair which was really messy from being in the car for the past however may hours. "I can't believe it." She pulled the bandage off her forehead, which was no longer bleeding or colored with a bruise.

"Yeah," Levi replied, leaning back in his seat, taking a deep breath. He didn't know why he was so nervous about meeting her parents; he might not even be allowed to go in their room to see them. He also felt a slight feeling of disappointment that their ride was over, even though they still had the drive back.

Fyllie pulled down the mirror on her side, and cringed at her hair. She couldn't make it look pretty without showering and a hairbrush, but it was only her parents. She pulled it all up in a tight ponytail, and decided it was fine.

"Ready?" Levi asked.

"Yeah," Fyllie answered, lightly smiling. Levi jumped out of the car, and so did Fyllie. They walked through the automatic doors and up to the counter.

"Hello, how may I help you?" The lady there said. She smiled at them sweetly.

"Um, my parents are here," Fyllie said, telling her their names and their room number they had told her they were in.

"Of course, I believed I was informed those two would be having a visitor sometime this weekend," the woman said. "What is your friend's name?" she asked.

"Levi," Fyllie answered.

The woman nodded and wrote their names on two stickers that read "VISITOR", and the floor and room number her parents were in. They were colored a bright pink, and she handed them to the two. Fyllie out hers on, as did Levi.

"Thank you," Fyllie said.

"Am I allowed to go in their room?" Levi asked. "I'm not related."

"Yes, they said you are allowed to visit them as well. and You're very welcome, do you know how to get there?" The lady asked.

"We can figure it out," Fyllie smiled, taking Levi's hand and starting to walk towards the elevator. Her parents had texted her direction to their room. "Have a good day!"

Fyllie pulled Levi into the elevator, pushed the button of the floor they were on and the doors closed. Levi shoved his hands in his pockets. The elevator door opened and Fyllie stepped out. She read the little plaque on the wall apprising them which rooms were which way. She located where her parents' room would be and then started down the correct hallway. Levi followed her.

Fyllie then stopped at a door with her parents' names on a little whiteboard outside, and knocked on the day. "It's me, Fyllie," she said before opening the door and walking inside.

Levi didn't know if he should come in or not, so he decided to stand in the hallway.

Fyllie's parents were lying in their hospital beds peacefully, watching a sitcom together. They were hooked up to machines, and looked a bit bruised in some places, but nothing horrible. Her father had a cast on his forearm and her mother a cast on her leg.

"Oh, Fyllie," her mother said, beckoning for her daughter to come over to her bedside so she could pull her in embrace. "You've come so far, sweetie," she said.

"Yeah," Fyllie smiled, hugging her mother tightly, before walking over to her dad to give him a hug as well.

"You better have not been missing any school to see us," he said, hugging Fyllie tightly.

Fyllie's mother rolled her eyes, and Levi who was listening in, wondered if Fyllie had shared that Google Doc paper she mentioned that was due. He hoped she did. If she didn't, Levi for some reason would feel a twinge bit responsible.

The three talked for about 5 minutes or so, discussing Fyllie's classes and how them getting hurt affected her, and they apologized for the trouble. Her mom asked her what was going on between Levi and her; Fyllie answered that they were just friends. To change the subject, the freckled girl mentioned how she ended up on the paintball team.

"Great choice on your coach's part!" Fyllie's father said nodding with approval.

"I want to meet the young man who brought you all this way," Fyllie's mother said. Levi's heartbeat doubled in pace, and he wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He normally didn't give a shit about meeting people.

"Okay," Fyllie smiled, walking over to the doorway peeking out. Levi was sitting in a chair in the hallway, and he had stood up when he heard her mother say what she did. "They want to meet you," Fyllie said grinning. She was mostly excited she got to see her parents, but the other half was just giddy about the fact that Levi was the reason she got to see them.

Levi nodded and followed her back into the room.

"Awww, he's handsome," Fyllie's mother said, smiling kindly at Levi. Levi's mouth curved a bit upwards on the ends, not knowing how to thank her. He didn't know if he should accept the compliment and sound like an over-confident ass, or decline it and risk looking like an anti-social prick. Fortunately, Fyllie's mother continued talking. "My name's Mrs. June, sweetheart. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Levi replied.

"How was the drive?" Fyllie's father asked bluntly. Levi sensed this man didn't trust him, which was understandable. Levi had only known Fyllie for a few weeks and had driven her across states to see them. Fyllie was also this man's only daughter, which made Levi really nervous.

"Smooth, no troubles at all, sir," Levi said, twiddling his thumbs.

"So, you're the captain of the Scouts, then?" Levi's father asked. "I've heard a lot about you. Allowed on the team before you even got into college. Interesting."

Levi didn't know how to respond.

"Honey, don't interrogate the poor young man; he just drove our daughter hours to see us! Thank you so much for taking good care of her," Fyllie's mom said sweetly.

The four of them talked for a long time, almost three hours. They spoke about the campus, what Fyllie has been up to, classes, what Levi did and how the Paintball team was. Levi noticed Fyllie's mother seemed absolutely delighted when Fyllie told them how she had made such good friends through paintball.

Levi only contributed about 10 percent of the conversation, mostly because he didn't want to say anything to mess it up. These were also Fyllie's parents and this was her time to catch up with them.

Fyllie told her parents that someone had accidentally broken her glasses, _Reiner_ , and Levi had taken her to the optical store to get her new ones and contacts. She spared the details about how Reiner was a Titan from Utgard and did this on purpose, and how Levi abandoned her at the store, but it really made Fyllie's dad look at Levi with a newfound respect. Fyllie's mother, who already liked Levi, only grew more fond of him.

Levi looked down remembering that he'd left her, and being reminded of the whole Titan situation back in Trost, that he wanted to do his best to protect Fyllie through. Fyllie noticed this, and then told her parents about how her roommate was a total asshole, and Levi stood up to her for Fyllie, and told he her that if she ever spoke to Fyllie like how she was doing, he'd get her expelled.

Levi looked at Fyllie and smiled lightly, and couldn't help but drift his gaze over to her father, who gave him a nod of approval.

Fyllie's parents offered Levi gas money, but he politely refused. Fyllie's mother was adamant however, and forced him to take it.

Fyllie's parents also convinced them to stay in a hotel so they got quality sleep, and gave them money for it. Fyllie's father was disappointed in the two's decision to drive through the night last night, and he himself made the call to the hotel, making sure that it had to be a **_two-bed_** room, which made Levi and Fyllie turn red in embarrassment. (After making sure the two didn't have any important academics the next day.)

Fyllie's mother always rolled her eyes and gave Levi kind looks whenever Fyllie's father seemed to be conveying judgement. Levi would lightly smile back, and Fyllie would nudge him with her shoulder every now and then telling him to not mind her dad.

And then it was time for the two to hit the road and leave. Fyllie's parents would be released in a few days if nothing came up, and told Fyllie they would visit in the next three weeks. Levi gave Fyllie's father a firm handshake.

"Look after her, son," Fyllie's father had said, to which Levi nodded.

"I will. Nice to meet you, sir," Levi said.

"Thank you for being good to our daughter!" Fyllie's mother said, pulling Levi into a hug. "Drive safe, and get good rest tonight!" Levi was taken aback by the sudden amount of physical contact; he had only reached out his hand for her to shake before being pulled in a tight embrace.

"Of course," Levi replied, pulling back after a few seconds.

And after Fyllie had hugged and kissed her parents goodbye, they were off.

* * *

"I think your dad hates me-"

"Thank you," Fyllie interrupted Levi, and the stoic male suddenly felt two arms wrap around his torso, pulling into one of the warmest hugs he'd ever felt. He look down and saw the top of Fyllie's head resting on his chest. "Thank you so much for driving me all this way..."

Fyllie didn't know how else to express her thanks, she was so grateful. Levi lightly smiled and decided that he too would wrap his arms around the girl. _A good "Marco move",_ he told himself.

Fyllie pulled back. For once, she wasn't blushing- she didn't feel any flutter in her heart, all she felt was warm. Because before anything else, Levi was a good friend. He cared about her. She realized that even if they never became a couple, their friendship was good enough for her.

"And my dad doesn't hate you," she said giggling as the two continued to walk to Levi's car.

* * *

Fyllie and Levi drove for a good four hours or so before they arrived at their hotel. The first hour of the car ride, they talked about random things from their conversation. The second hour of the car ride, Levi let Fyllie drive just for shits and giggles. The third hour, Levi read news on his phone, and Fyllie sung along with the radio. The fourth hour, they had a bathroom break, and picked up fast food from another drive thru.

When they got into their room Levi took a shower, and all he could think about was the song that Fyllie and he listened to earlier that day. When he was finished, Fyllie was fast asleep in her bed. A big part of Levi wanted to climb in bed with her, and just play on his phone for a while. Lay back to back, not even cuddling her. He just wanted to be close, to feel like he was protecting her.

Even so, she might not want that, and ultimately, it was her father's clear wish that he wanted them to sleep in separate beds. Levi crawled in his bed and tried browsing whatever was interesting on his phone, but he couldn't focus.

He couldn't stop thinking about meeting Fyllie's parents. It was one of the most nerve-wracking things he'd ever done. Levi had met other girls' parents he had been hanging out with in the past, but he didn't care much for the girl, so he obviously wouldn't care about what her parents thought about him. He met Petra's dad before, but it was a paintball tournament, and Levi was really comfortable and there wasn't much to say besides compliments for his performance.

But this time was different. He wanted Fyllie's parents to _like_ him.

Fyllie woke up the next day to her phone ringing. She lazily flopped herself over from her stomach, and wiped the drool off her mouth. She fumbled for her glasses, put them on, and picked up her phone.

Hello...?" Fyllie answered.

"Good morning, _sunshine_ ," a voice Fyllie knew all too well answered.

"What do you want this time, _Annie_?" Fyllie asked, sitting up from bed.

"I just wanted to know how you are after I got that wonderful little pushover to take you out at the other day's match," Annie replied nonchalantly.

"I'm doing fine." Fyllie said coldly.

"Great. Did you tell anyone?" Annie asked.

"Listen. I don't know what the hell you're getting from all of this, but I don't want to deal with your shit anymore. Leave me and my team alone, okay? My parents are fine and will be fine and you wouldn't even be able to touch them. Interfere one more time and you'll get expelled after all you and your friends have done," Fyllie said seriously.

" _Oooh_ , tough girl," Annie said sarcastically. "Well, as strong as you seem, you and your team's golden soldier Levi aren't on campus right now, are you? You've left your precious team behind."

"D-" Fyllie was cut off as Levi walked back in the door.

"Hey, you're awake," he said, carrying a few big brown paper bags that smelled like a super sweet breakfast and tea. "Who are you on the phone with?"

The freckled girl sighed. "Sasha. She wants to know what color Connie should dye his hair." Fyllie thought she was pretty good for coming up with something as random and stupid as that, which was actually something that crazy couple would probably call her about.

"Tell them if he dyes his hair anything in the rainbow he's off the team," Levi said sarcastically, setting down the bags on their table.

"Okay...," Fyllie said, faking a laugh.

"See you around, Fyllie," Annie said before she hung up.

"Annie called me," Fyllie said immediately, feeling pissed.

Levi's content expression disappeared, and he was just about to say something when his phone rang. He held up his finger and answered it. "What do you want, Shitty Glasses?" He asked, a little too aggressively. Hanji had called him. His eyes then widened and his eyebrow twitched. "Okay. Fyllie and I won't get home until this evening. I'll see you then."

"What was that?..." Fyllie asked worriedly after Levi hung up.

"Petra's in the hospital," Levi answered.

* * *

No excerpt from the next chapter, since I am waiting for feedback and possible suggestions, for what I might add. Since these additions can affect the story, no excerpts are confirmed to be final yet. Have a great day and thanks for reading!


	8. The Little Things

**_Welcome to the eighth chapter of my first fanfic!_**

 **NOTICE** :

-the character **Fyllie** (pronunciation: "FILL-ee") June belongs to me.

-the rest of the characters with identified names belong to the anime and manga series **Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin**. " _Trost Univeristy_ ", " _the Scouts_ ", " _The University of Utgard_ ", " _the Titans_ ", while of course are referenced from the series, are **fanmade** (by me) colleges and teams, and the idea belongs to me, and are **not** a part of the Attack on Titan's existing story.

-" **Paint Wars** ", while exists as the well known electronic music festivals, is the name of the College Paintball Sport Association in the fanfic.

- **Language Warning** ; wouldn't be Attack on Titan without it.

- **Thank you taking time out of your day to review this story and/or PM me**. It does really mean a lot and puts a smile on my face. If you think that my story belongs in a certain community I am probably unaware of, please recommend it! Thank you so much!

* * *

 **It was the night after the first day of Pair's week**. Fyllie and Levi were too awkward to pose the possibility of them spending the night with each other, so after about 9, Levi dropped her off at her dorm and went over to Petra's.

Sometimes he would sleep over at his ex-teammate's place. Only on the couch out in the living room, and only so he could have a nice breakfast prepared for her in the morning, since she was on crutches and sometimes in a wheelchair. He only really started staying the night after she was injured. They would hang out together at each others' dorms and help each other with homework occasionally when they were partners on the team together in the previous year.

"How are you and Fyllie?" Petra asked Levi, sipping the tea he made for her as she continued to complete her schoolwork.

"Fine," Levi answered. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious," Petra smiled. If she was honest with herself, she _was_ the slightest bit jealous of Fyllie. Petra wasn't fully in _love_ with Levi, but she did see him logically as a suitable partner. She looked up to him greatly, and he was a good leader, and although he had a tough front, he had emotions just as complex and deep as anyone else underneath. He respected her, and because of her abiding, sweet nature Levi didn't call her a brat as much as he did everyone else, which Petra took as a possible sign he might like her.

"She's really skilled. She's just the weirdest brat I've ever met. Today at practice she was asking me the weirdest shit. She was all like, _yeah these teenage kids wanted to try cocaine and they accidentally ended up snorting their grandfather's ashes_." Levi said, shaking his head.

Petra burst out in cute giggles. " _What_? That's horrible!" She laughed. "But that's cute that she tells you stuff like that."

" _Cute_? She purposely says that shit to annoy me!" Levi said. "And it's not even cute shit, it's messed up!"

Petra smiled and shook her head. "Maybe it's because she likes you," she suggested. "Maybe these are just things that she's found funny and wants to share with someone she likes."

Levi shrugged, not really believing the idea. "Maybe. She's crazy, though. ...And all I can think about is how Annie actually _attacked_ her, and she didn't want to tell anyone about what was happening to protect the rest of the team. Annie threatened her parents, too, which I already told you about..." Levi sighed. "It's not like I think she's a total brat- I mean,..." Levi stopped talking, not knowing how to continue.

"Yeah, I think she's something special, Levi," Petra smiled. "Do you like her?"

Levi was a bit taken aback by the question. "To an extent. She's a good paintballer with a unique personality. She's a likable character."

Petra shook her head. "You know what I mean," she said.

Levi didn't reply. "How am I supposed to know?" He asked after a few seconds.

Petra couldn't help but laugh. "Do you want to kiss her or not?"

Levi gave her a questioning look.

"It's a simple question, yes or no," Petra continued. "You don't have to answer me, but that's the answer to your question."

"It's not _my_ question, it's _yours_ ," Levi muttered towards his friend. And it wasn't even a question to the raven-haired man. He _did_ like her. He _did_ want to kiss her. But he could only barely admit that to himself.

* * *

Fyllie leaned her head back against the seat and sighed heavily, staring at her phone, waiting for any new group messages. Levi so quiet it didn't even sound like he was breathing. He stared at the road ahead of him, so focused on driving. He was going 10 mph over the speed limit, and Fyllie didn't blame him.

After hearing the shocking news of Petra being admitted to the hospital Levi and Fyllie grabbed their stuff in a single scoop and immediately checked out, jumping in the car to drive back to campus.

The doctors said it was some form of food poisoning, and it was so severe, that the restaurant was being _investigated._ Not necessarily because they thought there was some evil bastard in the kitchens trying to kill people, but to make sure they didn't accidentally come in possssion of harmful substances.

Fyllie and Levi both had an unspoken agreement they knew who did this, and Levi was _furious_. Fyllie just felt guilty. Unbelievably guilty. She put her face in her hands and closed her eyes. She knew it wasn't her fault, but Levi and her _discussed_ whether or not they should tell the team. And even though Petra wasn't on the team this year, and she knew that Annie had beaten Fyllie up, no one ever thought the Titans would hurt Petra.

"Talk to me," Levi said out of the blue, a bit harshly.

"What?" Fyllie asked quietly, looking up at him.

"You're quiet. Say something," he said bluntly, even though he didn't mean to come off that rude.

"What... what should I say?" Fyllie asked, confused.

"Well it's not fun when I tell you what to say," Levi said. "Just say... one of the random things you normally say." He didn't look at her, but he wanted to. He would have, even though he'd probably look away immediately, since his ears were turning slightly pink. He just wanted to hear her voice. It lightnened his mood.

Fyllie was really confused. "I don't know what you mean..." she paused and sighed, thinking of something to say. "Someone once invented square-tennis balls," she spoke softly after a while.

Levi grinned on the inside. On the outside, he ever so lightly let the end of his mouth curve up in a smile. "Wow," was all he could think of to say.

"I think the intention was so they you wouldn't have to chase the ball when it rolled away," Fyllie explained, remembering having read about it somewhere. "I could be wrong," she added, voice still quiet.

Levi didn't answer. He knew Fyllie was most likely disappointed in herself. He didnt really have much experience into comforting, though; he didn't know what to say to make things better.

 _What would Marco say_? Levi asked himself. Levi never really had cared to comfort anyone in the past. The most comforting he ever did was for Petra, but the situations weren't nearly as serious or complicated. _Well here goes nothing._

"Hey," Levi started.

"Yeah?" Fyllie asked.

Levi decided to look to look at her, slowling down to 70mph instead of 80. "Do you think what happened is your fault?" He asked. He didn't think that he was using the right tone of voice, but didn't know how, or how to change it.

"I know it isn't." Fyllie replied shortly. Why was it every time Levi was trying to open up, Fyllie decided to close up? But Levi knew better this time.

"I was the one who wanted to take you to see your parents. And I wouldn't trade that, even if it meant Petra didn't hurt. And it's not like we could have helped it anyways," Levi said. And it was exactly how he felt.

Fyllie didn't know what to say. "We should have told the team what was happening..." she said quietly. "We should have watched after Petra."

"Yeah, maybe," Levi said. "Even if the team knew, there wasn't much that could have been done with Petra... We'll sort it out... Fyllie."

Despite the current situation, Fyllie couldn't help but feel her heart warm at the sound of her name being said in such a manner. Surprisingly, it wasn't very often that Levi said her name. He either referred to her as "brat", and other times he had no need to say her name as it was obvious he was directing his words to her. But when he said it, Fyllie felt good.

"Thanks..." Fyllie said quietly. "You don't think it's your fault, do you?" She asked.

"No." Levi answered. "It's neither of our faults."

"Do you think Petra has any idea that it was the Titans?" Fyllie asked. "She knows... she knows what happened to me..."

"I don't know," Levi answered. "She probably doesn't think so."

"Do you think the Titans know that Petra knows about what happened with me?" Fyllie asked.

"I don't know. I would hope not," Levi replied.

"How bad do you think they wanted to... hurt Petra..?" Fyllie asked quietly.

"I think this was a warning. I think they're trying to make some kind of point," Levi said, starting to speed up again.

* * *

"Hey guys, thanks so much for coming. I'm so glad you got back safely," Petra said sweetly, sitting upright in her hospital bed. Fyllie smiled sadly and shuffled her feet. It was disheartening seeing Petra in a hospital bed after seeing her parents in the same position.

"Yeah," Levi replied, sitting down beside her bed. "How are you feeling? What else did the doctors say?" He asked. Hanji had obviously been long gone; it took about 10 hours to get back home with Levi's speeding, and Hanji could only have been there for an hour or so.

"I'm getting out tomorrow morning," Petra smiled. "They're just making sure that I won't have any late allergic reactions tonight or something." The girl spoke as if it were nothing. She held no grudge or disappoint in her body, and she wore an innocent smile on her lips. It made Levi's heart ache. And Fyllie's too.

Petra wasn't the one to think this was done purposefully, with the intention of hurting her. Petra, of all people. This was like if someone hurt _Krista_. Petra had never done anything to hurt anyone, and she could have died from whatever was put in her system. Petra also said that even if the restaurant did for some reason come in possession of some risky substance, she didn't want to hold anything against them. She knew the Titans were on campus, but she never suspected them.

"Okay," Levi said, sighing. "Glad you're okay."

"Thanks, it means a lot that you're visiting," the girl smiled sweetly. "How was meeting Fyllie's parents?"

"Fine," Levi answered, remembering all the nervousness he'd felt when it was happening, quickly pushing the memory out of his head.

Fyllie and Levi stayed for an hour before leaving. Levi wanted to stay with her through the night just to make sure she was safe, but he had classes in the morning, and homework to do tonight. Levi pretended like Fyllie didn't factor into his decision, but she did.

Since the freckled girl asked if Petra and he were a couple, and he said no- which was the truth of course; he didn't want to make it seem that way. He had a hard time admitting it to himself, but he wanted to make things so he had a chance of Fyllie and him... well, being together. And the chances were lessened if he spent the night with Petra.

* * *

Fyllie only saw Levi at practice for the next week, as they didn't exactly hang out much after practices. They were on fine terms, and she still joked and told him random facts, but she decided to invest more time in her other friends than her crush.

Levi understood completely. He wanted Fyllie to have close relationships with her friends, especially after he saw Fyllie's mother light up when she heard that her daughter actually had friends now. He did miss her company, however. He felt like he should be okay without it for a while since they had spent however many hours in a car together, but this proved to be untrue. He took time this week to visit Petra.

Petra could definitely notice how much Levi talked about Fyllie.

Levi debated again and again on whether or not he should tell her that they were pretty sure the Titans did this to her. Maybe Petra _did_ suspect it under that innocent smile of hers, and just didn't say anything for unknown reasons.

Fyllie had been checking her phone as ofen as she could, just wishng Annie would call her. Since Annie called her with a blocked phone number, the freckled girl wasn't able to call her back. She just wanted to curse the hell out of her for hurting Petra. She occasionally teased the possibility that it wasn't Annie at all who hurt Petra, but it was pretty unlikely. Often Fyllie found herself falling into a cycle of overthinking the situation, but she was able to think of her friends now.

Connie and Sasha were pretty competitive against Krista and Ymir, well, mostly Ymir, to see who was the better couple. It was amusing to watch, and Fyllie and Eren were the ones who took on the characters of judges on a talent show of some sort, assessing the two couples for shits and giggles.

" _Man, Connie's arm wraps so naturally around Sasha's shoulders whereas Ymir's grip on Krista looks a little forced_ ," they would say, before receiving a death glare from Ymir and burst out laughing.

" _Awe, isn't it sweet that Ymir likes to feed Krista? It's so caring! She really does treat her like a goddess; Connie and Sasha just kind of stuff their own faces- one point for **Ymirsta** ~_" _Ymirsta_ , being the ship name Eren and Fyllie had decided to give the two. They were going to name Sasha x Connie "Sonnie", but since Hanji had a fish or some type of pet named "Sawney", they settled for " ** _Casha_** ".

Surprisingly, Mikasa didn't mind Eren being so close to Fyllie. It was probably because she knew Fyllie had a huge thing for their team captain, and Fyllie wasn't Eren's type. Not that it was obvious that Fyllie loved Levi, but Mikasa seemed like the omnipotent type.

Jean stopped hitting on Fyllie and focused his energy towards annoying Eren nowadays. The team constantly would ask Jean about how his non-existent love life was going, and he would come up with some stupid answer like, "I'm actually seeing several girls at the moment", to which Marco would innocently reply, "No you aren't silly!", which made everyone die laughing at Jean's embarrassment with his best friend.

Hanji would sometimes join the team when she wasn't doing homework or classes or managing her groups, and she proved to be much fun as well. The team loved to play " _Never Have I Ever_ ", " _Would You Rather_ ", and " _Truth or Dare_ ". They also would have arm wrestling tournaments, which Mikasa would always win. Jean could beat the majority of the team, but was always creamed by the black-haired girl.

Fyllie often texted her parents now and seemed much more lively than even before, since she knew they would be okay. She didn't receive any word from Annie or the Titans that week, and Levi didn't notice anything suspicious.

Fyllie and Levi had shortly spoken about whether or not to tell the team and/or Petra again, but they couldn't come up with a plan to do after the team knew, and they didn't want to possibly scare Petra. The situation was just not something college kids should have to think about.

Petra had asked about how Fyllie was and what happened with the Titans maybe once or twice, and Levi would always say that "it was taken care of" and "no need to worry", since he didn't know what else to say.

If Levi did spill anything, the Titans would most likely find out that he and Fyllie told the Scouts somehow, and would probably just go back to their campus for good and leave them alone, with no evidence of anything having happened. Unless they had some big plan they were working up to, which Levi and Fyllie had no idea. They hadn't been able to come to a conclusion before practice was over. Levi offered to take her to the coffee shop to discuss, but Fyllie had already made plans with the team, and she had to refuse.

Fyllie and Levi didn't really text that often, surprisingly. They saw each other enough to not have to send each other words when they could just say them in person. The only things they really texted each other was when Levi was on his way to pick her up for practice, and if they would go anywhere afterwards. Some days this week however, Fyllie had arranged to walk with Sasha and some of the other team members to practice, and Levi didn't have to pick her up, even though he wanted to.

It was mid September now, and it was starting to cool down significantly. The team had a match tomorrow, and they were excited and pumped. They had put their previous loss long behind them, and were ready to kick ass this week.

And that's exactly what they did. Fyllie and Levi stayed where the area was most populated this time, attacking in the middle. They were especially good at flinging each other around, as they had practiced body control and awareness at practice to be able to pull off such tricks. Levi had more body control than a trapeze artist, Fyllie was sure of it.

Erwin offered advice and gave pep talks towards ideas he thought strongly of. He had suggested this week during practices that while everyone had a specialty, everyone should be essentially able to do the same things as any one else on the team. He then made the pairs switch leading roles with others to work with. Levi and Fyllie no longer went out in front when playing Capture the Flag; Jean and Marco did. While Ymir and Krista were good snipers and Mikasa and Eren were good at quick-thinking and close-range shooting, those pairs switched, and so on.

With new technique, Hanji and Armin arranged game plans through Levi, and the team was really excited, but nervous as well, to try their new strategies in the field today. They watched film footage of their opposing team and they also noticed that any footage the other team would be watching of them would technically be false, since they were switching roles.

The Scouts took home a total victory, winning capture the flag when Marco and Jean were able to execute a perfect launch through the air that Levi and Fyllie taught them; over two far away platforms so they could rush down the flag as Hanji and Armin covered them; and won both Free For All's, earning a nod of approval from Erwin, which they could tell was the equivalent of the tall blond man fist pumping in pride.

The bus ride home was hectic, as the Scouts annoyed the hell out of their poor bus driver, throwing stuff like shoes, water bottles and spare clothes at each other, whilst blasting obnoxious music from their phones. Erwin didn't try to silence them, and only calmly tended to his clip board, while rolling his eyes every so often.

Hanji decided not to take notes this bus ride and sat in the back, celebrating with her teammates.

"Levi, sit with me," Fyllie had said as they were loading on the bus, grinning.

Levi shrugged. "Alright," he answered, "only if I can have the window seat."

"Alright, alright, everyone calm yourselves- Sasha, Connie stop making out. Jean, stop strangling Eren- Mikasa, stop strangling Jean, I have a very important announcement!" Hanji exclaimed, standing up on her seat which was in the very back so she could look over at everyone at once.

"What is it?" Krista asked eagerly.

"You've been excused from all your classes next week. I've taken the liberty to get you all personalized notes and homework that you'll need for each class, and online versions of any paper tests you have next week have been made which you'll have until October 1st to complete," Hanji said, smiling proudly.

"Huh? Why?" Jean asked.

"Because as a team, we're all going camping!" Hanji squealed excitedly. "We're going to a state park, about six hours away, that has an outside paintball part we can practice on! The next team we face has an outside arena, so it fits perfectly!" Hanji then handed out brochures for the park they all were being forced to go.

"White-water-rafting!" Jean exclaimed, reading the brochure. "Can we do all these things?"

"Zip-lining looks fun," Eren added, skimming through. "Where will we be staying?"

"We've rented out a camp ground and tents for us all. And of course we can do all the activities!" Hanji answered excitedly.

"Aww, this sounds so fun!" Krista chimed.

"How come we didn't know about this before?" Ymir asked.

"It was really last minute. I didn't want to get your hopes up before I could convince all your teachers to get me your work in advance," Hanji explained. "It was only this morning I got the last okay from one of your professors. And, it was only luck we were able to get such a nice camp ground last minute. So, what do you say, team? Ready to go camping?"

The team all excitedly verbalized their enthusiastic agreements, even though some of them preferred indoors rather than outdoors.

"What do you think about going camping?" Fyllie asked Levi, who was silent through the whole ordeal.

"In my opinion, camping is the equivalent of willingly living like a refugee, but I suppose this has the potential to be fun," he replied, making Fyllie giggle.

"Did you know we were going?" The freckled girl asked him.

"I knew that we might've," Levi answered. "I'm surprised that Hanji pulled it off though, so I didn't think we were actually going to go," he admitted.

* * *

"Okay, all the girls are sleeping in one tent, and all the boys are sleeping in their own tent," Hanji said a few days later, as the whole team jumped on the bus that was to take them to their campsite. "The tents are really, big; don't worry about the size."

"Why can't Krista and I have our own tent?" Ymir asked.

"Because it was cheaper to have two big tents instead of like a bunch of two-person tents," Hanji explained.

"Wait, you're going to sleep in a tent with all the guys?" Fyllie asked Levi in disbelief, giggling. All she could imagine was Levi having to participate in their dumb-ass conversations before the intimidating man yelled at them and they all retreated to the safety of their sleeping bags, fearing for their lives for the rest of the night, as if their angry captain was going to kill them all in their sleep.

"God, no," Levi said immediately. "I rented out my own tent," he said, which disappointed Fyllie a bit. She would have loved to hear the stories of Levi and the boys sleeping in the same tent.

"What about Coach?" Fyllie asked.

"He rented out his own tent as well," Levi answered.

Fyllie sighed and rolled her eyes. "Jesus so much for team bonding this camping trip," she joked.

"Are you implying all the bonding happens after dark?" Levi asked.

"Well-" Fyllie stopped herself when she realized what Levi meant. "You're disgusting. Of course not, Jesus, I was _implying_ you're gonna miss out on all the _night talk_."

"Sure you were," Levi said, raising his eyebrow suggestively.

Fyllie rolled her eyes. She couldn't help but blush at the thought of sharing a tent with Levi. Not that they would do anything; just to talk like they did when they were in the car together. She wondered if he would mind it if they did have to share a tent. If the tent arrangements were based on pairs. But she quickly pushed the thought out of her mind before her cheeks turned any more pink.

* * *

When they got to the campsite, everyone was asleep except Erwin and Levi, and the bus driver, of course. Armin cutely had his head in Eren's lap, who was leaning back on a satisfied sleeping Mikasa. Ymir had her arms wrapped securely around Krista under their blanket, and Sasha was resting her head on Connie's shoulder, who had his head rested on the top of hers.

Marco was peacefully sleeping leaning backwards, and Jean was occupying two seats across from each other, all sprawled out and snoring obnoxiously. Hanji was curled up in a ball in her seat, and Fyllie was leaning up against Levi, her back against his shoulder, her legs resting in the seat across from them.

Levi was on his phone, and Erwin was reading a book.

"Wake up brat," Levi nudged Fyllie. "We're here."

Hanji's alarm rung in a couple of seconds, and the girl yawned, stretching as she looked out the window, putting on her glasses after rubbing her eyes. "Everyone, we're here!" she shouted rather loudly, making Levi wince and roll his eyes at the sudden disturbance to his eardrums.

Once everyone was kicked off the bus, carrying their suitcases, sleeping bags and backpacks, the bus drove away, to return in a week, a day before their match. The team was standing in the middle of their camp ground, next to a fire pit, and surrounding it about twenty feet away, stood two huge tents, about the size of a single bed hotel room on the inside. There were also two single-person tents, for Captain Levi and Coach Erwin.

"Woah this is so cool!" Krista chimed. There were also a trails going from the campsite to the main part of the park, which was about a 20 minute walk. From there, the team could access hiking paths, zip-lining, the lake and river where they could canoe, white-water-raft, swim, kayak and paddle board, the paintball park, and other activities, which were all listed on the sign next to the path.

There was also a split bath house in their campsite, with a side for the girls and boys, and inside there were a couple outlets. The team would use them to charge their portable chargers so they could charge their phones at night.

The service was horrible, but of course this was done purposely. There was a landline phone in the bath house however, which they could call the main camp if someone was injured. There were of course other land lines throughout the park.

"The park is pretty legit," Eren said, reading the brochure.

"What should we do?" Marco asked excitedly. "It's about 7:00pm right now. We have to be at our campsite by 11:00pm, and we can go down to the main park as early as 5:30am. Paintballing closes at 9:00pm, you can swim in the East Lake as late as 10:30, but all boating activities are closed at 7:30, since you can't do it after dark. Hiking is open from 5:30am-11:00pm, and vending machines are always open in the main park."

"What about ziplining?" Jean asked.

"Ziplining closes at 9:30, and there's a movie that shows on the side of the cliff from 7:00pm-9:00pm with a projector, but it's a kid's movie, and then there's a movie that shows 9:00-11:00, and it's an "adult" movie. So PG13. There's also karaoke open from 6:30pm-11:00pm! And there's a dance every other night with a theme, from 9:30pm-11:00pm. Most of the main activities open at 7:00am in the morning, and you can get your breakfast meal as early as 6:00am." Marco said, smiling.

"That's so much information," Connie said, his head spinning.

"You can also play volleyball, basketball, soccer, baseball, football, and other stuff like that from dusk til dawn, meaning 5:30am to 11:00pm," Marco added.

"Also, what are the rules for the team?" Krista asked.

"Whattya mean, angel?" Hanji asked, receiving a glare from Ymir when she called the little goddess "angel".

"Well, we came here to bond, right? Do we always have to be with someone or something?" She asked.

"Good question," Hanji said. "You must always be with someone at all times. It doesn't have to be your partner, though. And there will be mandatory activities every now and then, but not always."

"That's fair!" Krista smiled as Ymir clung to her tightly after Hanji said what she said.

"Oh, and I forgot the most important part. We were able to rent out the paintball park everyday we're here from 4:00 o'clock to 5:30! Practices will obviously be much shorter, but we won't be conditioning, since that will come with all the activities we'll be doing!" Hanji smiled. "Now, let's set up our tents! No boys are allowed in the girl's tent, and vice versa."

"And none of you brats are allowed in my tent," Levi added, before carrying his bag into his tent.

"I'm sleeping by Krista, no if, an's, but's about it!" Ymir declared, rolling out Krista's sleeping back in the corner right next to hers, once all the girls were in their tent.

"I wish I could sleep with my boyfrieeend," Sasha whined as she unrolled her sleeping bag. "But Fyllie's good enough!" The potato-girl said, making sure she was sleeping by the freckled girl, who smiled in amusement.

"Let's put all of our suitcases on this wall, and our backpacks we can keep by our sleeping bags, so anything you might need through the night you have near you," Hanji directed. Once the they were done, the tent actually looked really neat and cute. "Perfect!"

"This does look suitable," Mikasa said, admiring the aesthetic of it all.

"It doesn't really look like an actual camp tent," Fyllie said. "It looks like we put up a tent in someone's bed room and then just kind of stacked some suitcases inside."

"Is that good or bad?" Krista asked.

"Good probably, since I'm more of an indoor person than outdoor," Fyllie thought out loud.

Ymir, who was slyly scootching Krista's sleeping bag even closer to hers said, "I wonder what the boys' tent looks like."

"Probably looks like a dump and then there'll be Armin and Marco huddling in their cleanliness while Jean, Eren and Connie just throw their shit everywhere," Hanji replied truthfully.

Everyone laughed at the amusing thought, finished setting up, and then went back outside, where most of the boys were already standing.

"Should we make a fire?" Jean asked.

"Of course we should!" Hanji exclaimed. "We're going to be telling scary stories after dark, aren't we?"

"What are we, ten?" Levi rolled his eyes as he came out of his tent.

"Well, you may be a grumpy old man, but the rest of us are young and spritely!" Hanji joked.

Levi sighed and kicked one of the logs that was laying next to the fire pit, making sure no insects crawled out. Levi didn't _hate_ nature, but everything was so unsanitary, and it was so easy to get dirty when outside, especially in a place like this.

The raven haired man also didn't really know how he was exactly going to _bond_ here, either. The only person he actually cared to bond with was Fyllie. He cared about his team, it wasn't like he didn't hold any concern for them at all, but he didn't have a strong desire to become close friends with any of them.

The team Levi admitted could be fun to be around; the possessed amazing ebullience, which could give Levi energy when he lacked it, and their humor could easily raise a bad mood. He of course would do damn near anything to protect them from the Titans. But there was another factor that played in as well, which was that he was technically to be seen as their superior. And since his personality wasn't exactly like the welcoming one of Marco's, it was difficult for the team to feel like _they_ could bond with _him_.

Levi wondered if Fyllie had not been his partner and just someone else on the team, would they have become friends? The Captain would certainly prefer a life where he was acquainted with the freckled girl instead of one where he was not, so maybe he was missing out by not really wanting to make "friends" with the rest of his team.

Levi sat down on the log, and propped his elbows on his knees, resting his chin on one of his hands, while Eren and Jean fought over how to make a fire.

Surprisingly, Erwin was looking forward to the week at camp. The blond man had chosen to be a college professor because he enjoyed young adults out of all the other teachable age groups, and was quite fond of his team, especially this year's particular members. He had no children of his own, and while he didn't want to insert himself in a fatherly way, he couldn't help but instruct the arguing boys on the best way to properly make a fire.

"Let's go ziplining! I've never done that before!" Krista said, as Ymir and her looked over the brochure together.

"Whatever you want, my princess~" Ymir smiled. "What do you want to do afterwards?"

"Maybe a movie, or maybe take a shower before we tell campfire stories," Krista replied cutely.

"Okay," Ymir nodded, intertwining fingers with the goddess before saying to everyone else, "Krista and I are going ziplining! We'll be back soon!"

"I'm coming!" Sasha said. "Fyllie, Connie, let's go!"

"Okay," Connie shrugged, his hands behind his head as he lazily walked over to his girlfriend.

"I'll sit this one out," Fyllie said, "I'm gonna go see what the kid movie is, if anyone will come with me."

"Are you serious?" Levi asked from his sitting position.

"Yeah, there are a lot of good kid movies," Fyllie answered, shrugging.

"Weirdo." Levi said, sighing. "I'll go with you," he offered, standing up.

Fyllie snorted. "You will?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Levi said bluntly, as if to say: _don't make a big deal out of it_.

" _Awww_ ," Hanji nudged Fyllie with her elbow a couple of times, raising her eyebrows. "You guys are so sweet! A couple of sweeties being all sweeet!"

Fyllie rolled her eyes and blushed lightly. "What time should we be back for stories?" She asked. Erwin had just finished helping Eren and Jean set up the perfect fire.

"Hmmm, maybe 10:30?" Hanji suggested.

"Okay, well see ya," Fyllie said, as she started down the trail with the others who were headed to the zip line. Levi followed behind her with his hands in his pockets.

"Byeee!" Hanji called after them.

* * *

"I'm disappointed in you," Levi said after the movie _**Wreck-it-Ralph** _was finished. He shook his head and pulled the freckled girl off the ground. "There really wasn't anything else you wanted to do in this _whole_ camp?"

The last hour and half or so was spent with Fyllie sitting cross-legged on the grass staring at the screen, not blinking, completely entranced in the film. Levi had no idea why someone could be _that_ into a movie. It wasn't like it was the first time she had seen it, and he admitted he wished there was a little more exchange between him and her.

But every time he looked at her, her freckled cheeks and unmoving eyelashes, watching the movie as if she were a wonder-filled child, his heart beat a little louder inside his chest, and he felt warmer. It was weird, but it was so damn cute to Levi, that she could be this vehement about a kid movie.

"Well if it was a bad movie then I would have done something else," Fyllie replied. "Wreck-it-Ralph is one of the best animated movies there is."

"At least there wasn't any singing," Levi said, rolling his eyes. He checked the time, and it was a little before 9. Levi didn't particularly hate the movie, he did find it slightly interesting; the whole concept of it, but he didn't want to act like he thoroughly enjoyed it.

"Well whattya wanna do now?" Fyllie asked, ignoring his comment. "We still have more than an hour."

"I don't care," Levi said shrugging, trying to act nonchalant.

"Karaoke," Fyllie said jokingly.

"Okay I do care," Levi said immediately. "No karaoke."

Fyllie laughed lightly pushed him as they made their way back to a pavilion. "Karaoke it is!"

"Wait are you serious?" Levi asked, looking at her as if he was questioning her sanity. The idea that anyone would willingly do something like karaoke was beyond him, and he didn't understand how Fyllie could find any possible enjoyment out of such a thing.

"Sure, yeah!" Fyllie replied. "You have to do it with me!"

"No. I'll watch but I'm not singing," Levi said flatly.

"But it won't be fun if you don't do it with me..." Fyllie pouted, starting to turn towards the path that lead back to the campsite.

"Well isn't that a shame," Levi rolled his eyes. However, getting the feeling that Fyllie might actually be upset that he wouldn't do karaoke with her, as absurd as he thought it was, he didn't want to make her feel bad. "Maybe sometime this week," he said shortly afterwards.

"Pft, really?" Fyllie asked incredulous, walking straight towards a patch of mud on their trail, which Levi noticed. The freckled girl wasn't one to care if her shoes got dirty, so she saw no problem walking right through it. Levi, while on obviously on the cleaner side, didn't care if her shoes with dirty either; it's not like he had to keep them in his tent, but he saw this as the perfect opportunity to take her hand in his, and lightly pull her out of way of the mud.

Fyllie blushed a little, feeling Levi's hands against hers, his fingers absent-mindedly drumming against the top of her hand.

"Yeah, sure," Levi replied, not letting go, even after they had past the mud patch a few feet. He lightly brushed against her fingers with his, wanting to intertwine them.

"Can we sing a Disney song?" Fyllie asked a bit teasingly, wanting to interlock fingers with him as much as he did.

"No. Also I don't know the words to many songs," Levi said. And that was true. He didn't listen to music like many others did. He had favored genres and eras, and sounds of voices he preferred, but he didn't remember any specific lyrics. He maybe knew the choruses of songs he vaguely liked or found catchy, but not much else.

"Disney song it is!" Fyllie said jokingly, forcing a quiet chuckle out of Levi, who then decided to intertwine his fingers with Fyllie's, slipping his fingers into the spaces between hers. And it felt pretty damn good.

* * *

- **No excerpt from the next chapter!** I haven't really planned ahead yet, and I have camps to attend to very soon this summer where I won't be able to write or upload. I just wanted to get this out as soon as possible!

- **The next few chapters will be longer than this one.** This one was kind of setting up the week for the team, giving you an idea of what's going to be happening! If you have any suggestions or requests, please feel free to leave them in a review or PM me!

- **Thanks for reading!**


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